The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner for Kogi State governorship election, Dr Hale G. Longpet, has warned that any result sheet that comes from the wards and Local Government Areas (LGA) collation centres of the state without his signature will be voided.
He said this during the distribution of sensitive electoral materials on Thursday.
” I am going to sign each of the result sheets for those wards and LGAs in terms of collation,” he said, adding that any result sheet without his signature on it, is null and void.
Longpet maintained that the electoral umpire had done it’s best to carry political parties, civil society organisations and other stakeholders along in the build up to the polls as well as on election day.
He added that every political party has been given a check list of electoral items so that they can verify the quantity of items being used in the respective LGAs.
He then proceeded to sign the documents he earlier identified.
Sani Adam, the INEC National Commissioner said nobody should hold the electoral umpire to ransome because time was not on anybody’s side.
The INEC Commissioner was apparently referring to political parties whose agents were not on ground to witness the rolling out of the sensitive materials (he had asked party agents to announce their presence but only one from the All Progressives Congress identified himself).
“We have to do this inspection and move these materials today to all the locations,” he said, adding INEC was ready to go ahead with inspection and ensure that election materials are deployed today.
