INEC Official And Four Others For Trial

INEC Official And Four Others For Trial

An Independent Electoral Commission (INEC)  official in Oyo State, south west of Nigeria, Osunlola Akinyinka  is to face trial , if found to have erred in the alleged falsification of voters’ register.

INEC Chairman Professor Attahiru Jega gave this assurance while   directing all Resident Electoral Commissioners to protect voters’ registers in their custody.

His assurance was in response to the alarm raised by one of the opposition parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, over the alleged falsification of voters’ registers in some units in Oyo state.

The original voters’ register for Oyo State is however said to be intact at the INEC’s headquarters in Abuja.

Jega told some civil society organizations that INEC strongly believed that staff who exhibit inclinations towards subverting its aspirations for probity deserved to be prosecuted.

He said Osunlola Akinyinka, the Head of INEC’s ICT Unit in Ibadan, and four others, who were caught in a hotel with six Direct Data Capture machines acted without the knowledge or consent of the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Oyo State.  

Regrettable  

Jega said: “What has happened in Ibadan is very, very unfortunate. The head of the ICT unit in Ibadan was caught in a hotel room with four other people who are not INEC officials with six DDC machines.
 “Obviously, we are committed to prosecuting any person who has committed any offence and this is a very grievous offence. We have taken decisions; we have already sent somebody to take over as the head of ICT in Ibadan so that all these investigations can be done and the work also as we prepare for elections can continue’.

No sacred cows

He emphasised that the challenge for every organisation was to have the capacity to apprehend such offenders in order to penalize them in accordance with the law.  
It was also learnt that the arrested INEC official was brought to the Agodi headquarters of the commission in handcuff. His office was thoroughly searched by the police before he was taken back.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Adisa Bolanta, confirmed the incident. He said investigations would continue, adding that no one found to have committed any illegal act would go scot-free.

Poser

INEC is also probing how some sensitive materials for next month’s elections in Oyo State got into wrong hands.

Some suspects are reported to have been arrested in Ibadan, the state capital, in connection with the tampering of voters’ registers in 27 Local Government Areas of the state.

The suspects, according to the report were sponsored by the state Governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala who has dismissed the allegation as propaganda by the opposition.

NP/ Qasim/ Ekata