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The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has advised Nigeria Police to avoid any action capable of creating the impression of harassment of INEC officials or infringment of the independence of the Commission, especially at this critical period of preparations for the 2023 General Election.
National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye gave this advise on a press statement signed and made available to Spye News on Friday.
The statement reads:
The attention of the Commission has been drawn to media reports that our Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Edo State, Dr Johnson Alalibo Sinikiem, was invited and detained by the Edo State Police Commmade yesterday 28th July 2022 in connection with matters arising from the recent primaries conducted by a political party in the State.
The Commission can confirm that the REC was invited. However, the Edo State Police Command has issued a statement to clarify the situation, saying that the REC was only invited to provide insight into some technical issues regarding our processes and nothing more. He was neither detained nor is he personally under investigation as media reports suggested.
While we welcome the clarification by the Police Command, we wish to point out that any other official of the Commission assigned by the REC could have provided the required insight.
Alternatively, a visit to our State Office by the Commissioner of Police or his assigned representative could have achieved the same goal as has been the tradition in our collaborative relationship with security agencies.
For emphasis, our REC in Edo State, Dr Johnson Alalibo Sinikiem, is a conscientious public officer and co-chairman of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) at State level.
He was the sitting REC when the last Governorship election was conducted in Edo State on 19th September 2020 which was adjudged to be free, fair and credible.
Any action capable of creating the impression of harassment of our officials or infringment of the independence of the Commission must be avoided, especially at this critical period of our preparations for the 2023 General Election.