Elections were not conducted in Etung Local Government Area of Cross River State following violent attack on INEC officials who went to conduct the elections on Saturday Feb 23rd 2019.
Disclosing this on Sunday while presenting the report to INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Calabar, the local government returning officer, Prof Chris Chukwurah said the crew narrowly escaped being lynched by suspected thugs.
He said the attack was from all fronts, hence the possibility of conducting elections was impossible as INEC staff and ad hoc workers had to run for the safety of their lives and property.
The returning officer said, “We were manhandled, the suspected thugs pursued us up to Ikom but we were rescued from the hands of our attackers by the soldiers and other security agencies.
“Because of the violent attack, we couldn’t carry out elections in the area, hence the elections were cancelled in the local government area,†he stated.
At Bakassi local government area, elections were not conducted in four wards, Archibong Town, Amoto, Efut Inwang, Akwa and two units, Odiong Atai Ema in Ikpa Nkayang.
Prof Asira Inyang Asira attributed the none conduct of elections in the four wards to logistics problem, stressing “We were stocked in the mud for over five hours.
“We were in the river for several hours and we narrowly escaped death as we were in the river up to 10pm.â€
He, however, announced the results for the six wards, which included registered voters 13, 373, accredited voters 4, 262, valid votes 3, 911, SDP 95, APC 780 and PDP 3,019 while rejected votes was 79 and total votes cast 3, 990.
Since there was no elections in four wards in the local government area, the elections was declared inconclusive.
Source:
dailypost.ng/2019/02/24/inec-cancels-elections-etung-council-area-cross-river-declares-bakassi-inconclusive/
