– Passes Vote Of No Confidence On Imo REC, Sylvia Agu, INEC 27 Electoral Officers
– Demand Immediate Transfer
International Society For Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, a human rights nd advocacy group, has officially written the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC Prof Mahmood Yakubu, to seek the immediate transfer of the Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, (REC) Prof Sylvia Agu and the 27 INEC Electoral officers in Imo State for presiding over the most corrupt and compromised election in the history of the State.
The group in the letter dated Thursday, June, 8,2023, with the caption, “Ahead of Imo’s Nov 11, 2023 Governorship Election: Findings Indicate That REC Sylvia Agu And INEC’s 27 Local Government Electoral Officers (EOs) Are Incurably Incapable Of Ensuring Participatory And Credible Guber Poll, ……time to transfer REC Sylvia Agu and INEC’s 27 LGA-Eos who have long overstayed their welcome….opposes REC’s invitation of 2,300 soldiers and militarization of the poll and result collation centers”, passed a vote of no confidence on the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Imo State, Prof Sylvia Agu and the INEC Electoral officers for the 27 local Government Areas in the state who they accused of being biased, compromised and unable to preside over a free, fair and credibly governorship election, come November, 11.
They also condemned in very strong terms the invitation of 2,300 soldiers, which they described as an “unnecessary militarization of the poll and collation centers.
The petition which was jointly signed by Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman, Chidinma Udegbunam Esq, Head, Publicity Department and Ositadinma Agu, Head, International Contacts and Mobilization, reads in part, “The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) is writing your Commission so as to draw its attention to the above. This timely letter of ours is to enable the Commission enough time to expeditiously and critically respond to the subject matter and its accompanying demands. This letter had arisen from our several checks and findings including general evaluation of the 2023 Presidential/National/State Assembly polls in Imo State and various indictable roles played by substantive and ad hoc officers during the polls. Reliable intelligence at our disposal had during indicated that several officers deployed by the Commission played different indictable roles to undermine the credibility of the polls; to the extent that the State Assembly Poll in the state was the worst of it all and a ‘walkover’ for candidates of the state ruling APC. There were also “Omuma Magic Results” during the Presidential and National Assembly Polls.
Vicariously or otherwise the State’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof Sylvia Agu did not stand tall to be respected. This was as a result of her poor handling of the polls and as a result, she cannot be trusted to deliver a participatory and credible Governorship Poll in Imo State during the Nov 11, 2023 Governorship Poll. Therefore, Intersociety, having comprehensively checked and monitored the goings on in Imo State ahead of Nov 11, 2023 Governorship Poll, has found that present REC Sylvia Agu and INEC’s 27 Local Government Electoral Officers (EOs) are grossly incapable of ensuring participatory and credible Governorship Poll in the State. The Commission’s ‘fact-finding’ visit to Imo State scheduled in coming days within the week must be used as good opportunity to address the wrongs under complaint and reposition the Commissions in Imo State ahead of the Important Poll. The Imo INEC department and their heads requiring and total overhaul by the Headquarters of the Commission the ICT and its heads, the Local Government Electoral Officers (EOs) and so on.
The Headquarters of the Commission must also be told in dear terms that the Electoral Officers in Imo State’s 27 Local Government Areas have long overstayed their welcome having stayed ‘longer than necessary’ or far above periods allowed by the INEC Establishment Act of 2004 or the Electoral Act of 2022 as amended. Their long stay in such electoral places of posting has also made them vulnerable to electoral corruption and related sharp practices. Intersociety is ‘certainly not sure’ that the Imo REC, Prof Sylvia Agu is capable of conducting of participatory and credible Governorship Poll in the State on Nov 11, 2023. Her recent invitation of 2,300 soldiers for the polls is not only widely condemned and rejected but also seen by many “militarization of the Poll with intent to rig back the state incumbent using the military” and a dear evidence of her incapability of ensuring free, credible, popular and transparent Governorship Poll on Nov 11, 2023.
Another issue of our deep concern is militarization and ‘privatization’ of the Result Collation Centers. Such is also be feared ahead of the Nov 11, 2023 Governorship Poll in Imo State. The above is one of the problems arising from the conduct of the 2023 General Elections in the State which the Commission must not allow to rear its ugly head in the Nov, 11, 2023 Governorship Poll, in the Manual for 2023 Polls issued, pursuant to Article 1.3 of the 2022 Electoral Act as amended by the Commission to its deployed senior and junior officers/staffers, “INEC Result Collation Centers must be located at INEC offices across the country or at Local Government Area Offices of the Commission Electoral Wards”.
Contrarily, Intersociety’s findings showed that in the 2023 elections in many Local Government Areas of Imo State particularly during the State Assembly Poll, the collation of results was done at the Local Government Chairmen’s offices where the incumbents at the State and LGA’s levels resorted to using soldiers and other security agents as well as thugs, member of political death squads and brigands attached to such offices to prevent and deny the opposition party agents. Observers and relevant stakeholders access to monitor the result collation in line with the Electoral Act and Election Guidelines/Manuals issued for 2023 Polls. The above explains why the ruling party in the state recorded a result that is unfathomable in the history of elections in Imo State by “winning” 26 of the State’s 27 House of Assembly seats. Some of the affected Local Government Areas during that time were Aboh Mbaise, Isu, Ahiazu, Oniumo, Owerri North and several others. The Headquarters of the Commission must therefore endure that result collation is done at the designated collation points as stipulated by the 2022 Electoral Act devoid of the State Government or interference. The Commission should, as a matter of fact, directly control the security personnel that will man those centers in order to avert a reoccurrence of what happened during the 2023 General Election in Imo State.
Calling for immediate transfer of REC Sylvia and under-named 27 Eos in Imo.
Intersociety hereby calls for the immediate transfer of Imo INEC REC, Prof Sylvia Agu and the under-named Imo INEC’s 27 Local Government Electoral Officers (EOs), namely; Uzor Chinwendu (EO for Okigwe LGA), Ogbonne Achibe (Isu LGA), Nnebue (Ezinihitte-Mbano LGA), Nwachukwu (Onuimo LGA), Andrew Erofurukuma (Ehime Mbani), Frank Okories (Isiala Mbano LGA), Uzoma (Ihite-Uboma LGA), Ijeoma (Obowo LGA), George (Aboh Mbaise LGA), Uche Sunday (Ahiazu Mbaise LGA), Henry O (Ikeduru LGA), Theresa (Mbatoli LGA), Clement Achibong (Owerri North LGA), Ikenna Joel (Owerri Municipal LGA), Emeka Okeke (Owerri West LGA), Eze Jah (Ohaji Egbema LGA), Ogbuisi Robinson (Oguta LGA), Emma Uzola (Oru West LGA), Abbadinego (Oru East LGA), Obiora (Orsu LGA), Ijeoma Peter-Mary (Njaba LGA), Ikem Oleji (Nkwerre LGA), Ethelbert (Ideato South), Chigozie I. (Ideato North), Chukwuemeka Blessing (Orlu LGA).
