The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is “absolutely” to get approval from the NCC before transmitting election results, as it reveals using the Owerri zonal headquarters office to distribute non-sensitive materials ahead of November 6 Anambra governorship election.
INEC National Commissioner, Okechukwu Ibeanu, stated this on Wednesday in Abuja during a parley with media executives.
Regarding the transmission of election results, Mr Ibeanu stated, “Let me then tie this to the suggestion by the National Assembly that to transmit results electronically, INEC has to clear with the NCC, that is absolutely unconstitutional.”
Further explaining, he noted, “We cannot say that for INEC to transmit election results it has to get an approval of another agency of government when actually INEC has the power to impose a duty on NCC to achieve the transmission of electronic results.”
“What is left is for INEC to use the power that the constitution gave it,” he added.
The INEC commissioner disclosed that the commission would also adopt an application to monitor the distribution.
Mr Ibeanu added that the use of the zonal office in Owerri became necessary as the commission had yet to recover from recent attacks on its facilities in Anambra fully.
Also speaking at the meeting, INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu noted that the decision to distribute the materials from its Owerri office stemmed from recent attacks on and damages of the commission’s facilities in Anambra.
He explained that non-sensitive election materials would be distributed from the INEC zonal office in Owerri to its local government offices in Anambra.
Mr Ibeanu recalled that over 50 per cent of the non-sensitive materials already pulled together for the election were destroyed in the attacks.