Ignore Fake News, INEC Has Not Cancel Any Result – Yakubu
BY COBHAM NSA, ABUJA – The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu has debunked allegations of elections’ cancellation in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)
He said that the Commission has not cancelled elections in any part of the country as being speculated in a section of the media and some political groups.
Prof Yakubu reaction came on the heels of claims by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) that INEC has concluded plans to cancel the presidential election in some area councils of the FCT.
The CUPP had raised an alarm over what it alleged as a strategy to declare results inconclusive to pave the way for alteration of figures in favour of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress
But the INEC boss, who expressed confidence in the general conduct of the elections as being peaceful, maintained that such allegations were unfounded and remained in the fertile imaginations of those who threw them up.
On the collation of presidential polls results nationwide, Prof Yakubu named Ekiti State as being the first to conclude the exercise with the Returning Officer already on his way to Abuja for the submission of the election result.
He also confirmed that the commission has handed over an Electoral Officer (EO) to the security agencies for further investigation over some reported infractions of the electoral process.
The Commission however refused to give details of the EO’s offence, stating that the case is currently being investigated by relevant security agencies.
Prof Yakubu, who acknowledged citizens’ right to information, however urged social media operators to be circumspect in their reportage and avoid information that could cause crises within the polity.
