Osun REC warns against signing over-voting result sheets
By John Dike
Any independent Electoral officer or staff who reportedly sign over voting result sheet during an election, if caught will be prosecuted in accordance with the law .
“Signing over voting results is criminal offence and every staff of INEC are aware of the law and the rules of engagement and as such there, is no ignorance in the Law .
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Osogbo State, Dr Mutiu Agboke gave this declaration during a courtesy visit to Correspondent chapel of Nigeria Union of journalists at NUJ in the State.
Agboke who said the only panacea for violence free ,fair and credible election in Nigeria is if Nigerians, especially the eligible voters change their negative perception about independent Electoral commission INEC and shun violence and vote buying.
Agboke who said there is need to address violence before any election, blamed politicians on various violence that occurred during elections.
His words “We must address violence and vote buying.The question we must ask ourselves are who are those involved in vote buying.
“Who are those creating violence during elections. This is why we are leveraging on various stakeholders like NUJ to fight against this menace .
” We must all be involved in stopping these ugly trend in our election .We are already engaging various stakeholders .
“This rapport we are having will go a long way to assist the INEC towards delivering a credible election.
The INEC boss who vowed never to be part of any form of irregularities before, during and after elections, hinted that any INEC staff who signs result sheet that have over voting, if caught will be persecuted.
Welcoming the State INEC chairman and his entourage ,the chairman of correspondent chapel Mr Sina Abubakar assured him that journalists in osun state has always been consistent and objective in their reportage .
He told him to always avail journalists necessary information needed for them to file objective reports saying effective partnership is panacea for violence free election .
