Rivers re-run: Party supporters protest, accuse INEC of bias

Voters and polling agents awaiting arrival of voting materials at Ogu/Bolo local government area this morning.

Some political party supporters in Ahoada-West council area on Saturday protested against alleged bias by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the conduct of the legislative rerun elections in Rivers.

The supporters claimed that the election materials sent to polling units were fake and would not be allowed to be used for the exercise.

A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent reports that the party faithful chanted slogans such as “we no gree’’, no result sheet, no election’’, “our votes must count.’’

The supporters said they had lost confidence on INEC’s ability to conduct a free, fair and credible election in the area.

The protest caused many voters to leave the polling units for fear of molestation.

Some voters, however, stood several metres away from the voting centres, awaiting any commencement of voting.

Meanwhile, INEC Deputy Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mr Nick Dazang, denied the allegations, saying INEC could not have deployed fake election materials for any election.

“How can INEC deploy fake election materials of which we are the custodian of our materials?

He disclosed in a telephone interview that “what happened in Ahoada-West is that some result sheets were snatched and from available report, the result sheets have been replaced.

“INEC cannot deploy fake result sheets. It is like saying Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is producing fake currency. Is this possible?”

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