LG poll: INEC denies releasing 2023 voter register to Rivers electoral commission

The Independent National Electoral Commission said it has not officially released the voter register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, Dr Johnson Sinikiem, stated this while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.

Recall that the Chairman of RSIEC, Justice Adolphus Enebeli on September 26 during the flag-off of the voters Register at Ward 2 unit 10 in Rumuodara Town Hall Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of the state, revealed that RSIEC received the voters register from the Independent National Electoral Commission prior to any legal issues arising.

Justice Enebeli stated, “The 6th Commission under my charge we are very proactive. A wise man can never be taken unawares. We are proactive, we follow due process. Even before the cases went to court we have liaised with INEC and the correspondence is there.

“That is it. It is the gift of patience and planning. I’m not a last-minute man. I plan ahead. And so all these things were concluded since last year the correspondences are there.”

But Sinikiem said though RSIEC had requested the register, INEC had yet to hand over the document to RSIEC, saying the process was still on before it received a communication from the INEC headquarters about a court order.

He explained that INEC’s tradition is to provide the voters register to RSIEC before local government elections, as mandated by law.

However, he noted that the state INEC office had received two requests from RSIEC for the voter register but compliance has been hindered by a court order from the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Sinikiem clarified that INEC’s Information Communication Technology Department houses the voter register in soft copy and would typically provide certified photocopies to RSIEC but insisted that no such document has been handed over to the state election umpire.

He said, “The tradition of the commission is that before an election for State at the local government the only responsibility that we have is to give them voters register because we are empowered to maintain and keep voters register for the country.

“However, to make it very clear, the RSIEC has written to us about two times for release of the register but we have not released before we received from our headquarters an order from a Federal High Court restraining INEC from releasing the registers. So until now we have not officially handed over the Rivers state voters register to RSIEC, we have not! The ICT department housed the voter register.

“And the voter register is in a soft copy and it is in two ways. Either we give it to them in soft copy, we photocopy it both black and white and colour then we stamp certified through copy. “But we have not given them, there is no register in our office that will show that we have handed over such documents to them. But they have written.”

Regarding the court orders, Sinikiem stated that he has received only one court order from the INEC headquarters, Abuja, adding that of the Federal High Court order from Abuja directing compliance, but is unaware of a separate state High Court order.

When asked about the delay in issuing the voters register, Sinikiem cited administrative procedures, saying, “I have the one of the Federal High Court from Abuja which was sent to me by my headquarters directing me to comply with the court order. I have not seen another court order from the state High Court.

“Well it is administrative, it is not that we withheld it, but when the RSIEC requests, they have to come for the processes, they have not come to conclude the processes before we got the court order. We have not released,” The State INEC REC said.

But reacting to INEC’s denial, the RSIEC Commissioner for Public Affairs and Civic Education, Tamunotonye Tobins said the national electoral umpire cannot deny providing it with the updated voters register for the upcoming council poll.

Tobins further said RSIEC followed due process before obtaining the register for the elections, pointing out that the correspondences between the two electoral bodies are available.

He stated, “Well, that is not true and INEC cannot in good conscience say that because the correspondences between the two bodies are here. We have the documents here.

“They (INEC) have given us all that we needed for the election and we are proceeding with the election. The 2023 updated register of voters for Rivers State is right now in our possession and we got it from INEC. This thing happened last year between July and October.”

He further said the commission is ready to challenge INEC’s denial, even as he said the election materials have arrived at the RSIEC office which explains the security beef-up at its office along Aba Road in Port Harcourt.

RSIEC Commissioner for Public Affairs and Civic Education also dismissed claims making the rounds that results for the elections were being written.

“The security presence you see there is at the instance of RSIEC. We were with the Commissioner of Police and his team on Monday this week wherein we had a robust interface. In that meeting, we had the assurances of the security operatives that the security of materials is guaranteed.

“I can tell you this for a fact, security is guaranteed, everybody is secured as far as the election is concerned. The sensitive materials are secured. They are not printed around as people are insinuating. If there are results that people are insinuating we don’t have knowledge of that and there is nothing like that.

“I want to assure Rivers people that even the sensitive materials are embossed. They have security features that you cannot beat. It has not gone out. The time for it to go out when it gets to that time that is on the election day proper.”