INEC defends late arrival of election materials for Delta bye-election

"There can never be 100 per cent perfection in any election conduct anywhere in the world,'' INEC said.

Despite the late arrival of election materials in many parts of Delta Central where a senatorial bye-election was held on Saturday, the Independent National Electoral Commission, defended its conduct, saying 'there can never be' a perfect election.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Delta, Gesila Khan, on Saturday in Ughelli, said voting in the bye-election went peacefully in spite of initial challenges.


Mrs. Khan told the News Agency of Nigeria that the exercise also ended on schedule and the conduct was successful.


"Normally, voting ought to have commenced at 12.30 p.m., but because of initial hiccups, it was not so. However, it all ended peacefully at the end of the day,'' she said.
The resident electoral commissioner said the initial challenges encountered were a normal occurrence.

"There can never be 100 per cent perfection in any election conduct anywhere in the world,'' she said.
Speaking also, the Delta Commissioner of Police, Ikechukwu Aduba, said the bye-election was peaceful because his men were at all the voting centres to maintain law and order.

He had earlier warned against violence during the poll, threatening to deal with any person found disrupting the election.

Mr. Aduba had also warned policemen in the state to steer clear of politicians and government officials during the exercise, saying that any violation of the order would be severely punished.

Voting had ended after the extension of the exercise by some hours.

The extension was because electoral personnel and voting materials had not got to the voting centres visited as at noon, and this had led to late accreditation.

Voting then commenced late in mostæ of the centres, necessitating the extension of the period.

(NAN)