INEC called out the PDP
spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan,
for continuing to insist that the electoral commission is planning to establish
30,000 polling units for IDPs in foreign countries.
INEC stated that it is not a political party and implored
Ologbondiyan to stop engaging in hate speech; for the good of the country and
democracy Ahead of the 2019 general elections, the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
is putting the lives of its staff at risk.
Breaking News
No Diaspora/Out-of-Country Voting in 2019 General Elections.
The attention of INEC has been drawn to a report by a section of the media which gave false impression that d Commission has “made special provisions for IDPs outside Nigeria to vote in d 2019 Elections...
No Diaspora/Out-of-Country Voting in 2019 General Elections.
The attention of INEC has been drawn to a report by a section of the media which gave false impression that d Commission has “made special provisions for IDPs outside Nigeria to vote in d 2019 Elections...
Naija news Understands that INEC made the
comment in reaction to the opposition party’s allegation that the electoral
commission’s plan to create polling centers in Internally Displaced Persons
(IDP) camps in Chad and Niger Republic was a plot hatched in connivance with
the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the elections, Vanguard reports.
Naija News learnt that INEC immediately took
objection to the accusation and described it as hate speech, which it said is
capable of putting its permanent and ad hoc staff at risk during the elections.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, Prof
Mahmood Yakubu, stated:
“The story about the possibility of so called
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) located in Chad and Niger republic voting
in the 2019 general elections was as a result of a misrepresentation of facts
by a newspaper in its story on the Validation Conference in respect of the
Framework for Voting for Internally Displaced Persons, held on 12th December in
Abuja, for which the commission had to promptly issue a rebuttal.
“Everybody knows that displaced
persons living in foreign countries cannot be regarded as IDPs but refugees and
there is no provision in our laws for any Nigerian living outside Nigeria to
vote during the 2019 general elections.
“But Kola Ologbondiyan has continued to insist
that the commission is planning to establish 30,000 polling units and give the
so-called IDPs in foreign countries the opportunity to vote in the general
elections.
“What this man is doing, by implication, is to
put the lives of INEC permanent and adhoc staff, especially the young National
Youth Service Corps members at risk during the 2019 general elections with his
continuous portrayal of the Commission as untrustworthy and fraudulent.
“This is not what Nigerians need at this time.
This is certainly not the way to be an excellent spokesperson. “INEC is not a
political party. The commission is not planning to establish any new polling
units anywhere. Our only interest is to conduct free, fair and credible general
elections in 2019 and we require the cooperation of all stakeholders, including
political parties, to achieve this objective.
“My strong advice to Kola Ologbodiyan is that
he should stop what I can safely describe as hate speech against INEC, for the
good of the country and democracy.
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