Bayelsa Returning Officer assaulted, forced to announce results – Lagos REC

The Resident Electoral Commissioner for Lagos State (REC), Akin Orebiyi, yesterday said a returning officer in the recent re-run election in Bayelsa State was forced to announce inconclusive results of the election.

Orebiyi was speaking at the Agenda for the DGD Stakeholders review meeting on media and the 2015 election organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Lagos.

The Lagos REC who said he was among a team of INEC officials at the election declined naming the returning officer and where those who attacked him came from.

“I just came back from Bayelsa State where we had gone to participate in the recently conducted re-run election. We had a situation whereby a returning officer declared an election inconclusive in a particular area because of certain discrepancies that marred the process. But some people in the hall switched off the light and slammed a plastic chair on his head. They were still not satisfied so they took a broken leg of the chair and started hitting him with it. They vowed not to let him step out of the place as they kept shouting that since they were not responsible for the inconclusiveness, the result must be declared.

“The returning officer, a lecturer with Delta State University, right there, recanted his statement and declared the result, announcing the leading candidate as winner. It was after the episode that security operatives emerged,” Orebiyi said.

The Lagos REC called for increased security for electoral officers, saying there were cases when such officers lost their lives on duty and such incidences went unreported.

Orebiyi said a disciplinary committee in INEC had already been put in place to impose punitive measures on officers who compromised in the course of duty.