INEC to lawyers: Be wary of sending amateurs to commission

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned some senior lawyers handling election petitions at tribunals to desist from sending junior lawyers to the commission to collect documents.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye gave this warning yesterday in Abuja when the commission issued a certificate of return to the House of Reps member-elect for Ehime Mbano/Ihitte Uboma/Obowo Federal Constituency, Imo State, Emeka Nwajiuba.

He said these junior lawyers do not understand how election petition processes work.

According to him, some of the junior lawyers on behalf of their bosses were fond of coming to the commission in search of some documents not meant for them and when the commission refuses to oblige them, they address press conferences accusing the commission of denying them the documents.

Okoye who presented the certificate of returns to Nwajiuba said the commission was committed to giving political parties that are in election petition process whatever documents they wanted so long as those documents were in the possession of the commission.

Nwajiuba who was elected on platform of the Accord Party (AP) hailed INEC and the judiciary for retrieving his mandate.

Nwajiuba who served in the House of Reps between 1999 and 2003 emerged winner in the last February 23 election after the candidate of the APC was disqualified by the court.