Akwa Ibom INEC cancels rerun in Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency over violence

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)In Akwa Ibom State has cancelled IKONO /INI Federal Constituency Supplementary Elections.

This is according to the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner ,Cyril Omorogbe .

He attributed the Cancellation to violence in 17 polling Units in which a corps member was shot and now recuperating in a hospital.

He also said there was snatching of electoral materials, including Bimodal Voters Accreditation Machine System (BVAS) devices.

Mr Omorogbe said “We had four local government areas where we conducted elections and the major one was Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency.

“We were there this morning early enough and at about 8:30 am polling units were opened. A couple of hours after we opened the poll, I received a call that BIVAS machines were hijacked.

“So, I knew from then that we were in for a tough time. Two hours after, I received another report that was not good. So, the election in Ikono/Ini federal constituency has been cancelled.”

He continued: “They were fighting all through the Local Government Area, in the 17 polling units in the area. I received a report from the collation officer that was supposed to collate the result in the area the election did not hold.

“The whole exercise of those 17 polling units, was either hijacked or disrupted, people were being chased and other things of that nature.

“The collation officers in the field, who were supposed to collate results, all came back and wrote reports. The result sheets they are supposed to fill out are all here. Apparently, there was no election for now.

Rerun in Abak/ Etim Ekpo were peaceful according to INEC in Akwa Ibom State.

Meanwhile, in the supplementary election for the Abak/Etim Ekpo/Ika Federal Constituency held on Saturday, Inemesit Clement Jimbo unseated Aniekan Umanah, the incumbent who was wanted to return to the Hallowed chambers.

Jimbo is a Quantity Surveyor while Umanah is a Communication/Public Relations guru having served as Commissioner for Information and Communication in Akwa Ibom State government.

While Jimbo vied under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Umanah jostled under Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the opposition party at the national level.

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Jimbo winner after scoring 22,225 votes to crush his closest rival Umanah who polled 20,793 votes.

The REC said the commission would take a decision on the matter after a meeting in Abuja