As a result of the rising spate of reports against the commission’s agents about extortion and bribery, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Benue State on Sunday has announced that it has issued queries to two of its staff for allegedly extorting PVC registrants in Oju Local Government Area.
INEC also announced that the commission will be completely withdrawing the two officers from the ongoing voters’ registration process in the community.
Shehu Abdulwahab who is the the administrative secretary of INEC in Benue made this announcement in a statement signed by him.
He said the two staff were said to have been caught demanding money to register people, in the ongoing continuous voter registration (CVR).
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According to the statement, the commission has withdrawn the two members of staff from the field, issued them queries and replaced them, as an immediate measure to arrest the ugly situation.
”The attention of the commission has been drawn to reports that two of INEC staff in Oju Local Government Area allegedly demanded payment of a fee before registering citizens as voters in the local government.
”The commission is deeply concerned over this development as provisions have been made for our offices across the state to ensure a hitch-free exercise at no cost to the citizens.
In another report, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has mandated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to prosecute all those who were arrested on allegations of vote-buying in the course of the Ekiti State governorship election.
SERAP in a short tweet which was sighted by Africa Daily News, New York on Sunday morning stated that the prosecution must not end with those caught in the act, but must be extended to the politicians who fund their election malpractice.
The group’s reaction comes on the heels of the reports of vote-buyers being arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) during the polls.
