Mr Mike Igini, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Akwa Ibom has commended the Police and other security agencies for successful rerun elections in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom.
Igini made the commendation in a statement he signed and made available to newsmen in Uyo on Sunday.
“The security agencies, despite the initial challenges did a commendable job with satisfactory professionalism, particularly in the full implementation of the designed model for securing the collation processes and centres.
“This ensured that polling unit results were not compromised or swapped with pre-written results to supplant the will of the people.
“These commendable efforts were led by the Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal with all members of Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES),” Igini said.
He said that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Akwa Ibom State, had announced the conclusion of the court-ordered Senatorial, Federal and State constituencies rerun elections scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 25.
“The elections were scheduled by the Commission as part of the nationwide rerun elections that arose from post-election disputes emanating from the last general elections in 2019.
“The successful conduct of these elections marks the conclusion of the 2019 elections in Akwa Ibom following a hitch-free collation of results at all stages of the process and final Returns declared by the Returning Officers for the three elections.
“The Commission wishes to thank all stakeholders, particularly the people of Essien Udim, who were undeterred by these occasional disruptions and came out to vote in the rerun elections,” he said.
Igini said the State INEC Office thanked all staff of the Commission as well as Youth Corps members deployed for these elections for their exemplary conduct.
He said the office also thanked them for their integrity in adhering to and implementing fully, fairly and impartially, laid down rules and regulations for the conduct of the elections.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Appeal Court in Calabar had urged INEC to conduct rerun elections into Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District, Essien Udim Federal Constituency and supplementary elections into Essien Udim State Constituency.