By Christian Njoku
The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) has postponed the announcement of election results in Cross River to 10am on Feb. 27.
This was disclosed by Prof. Gabriel Yomere, INEC’S Resident Electoral Commissioner, (REC) for Cross River on Sunday night at about 9 pm at the state collation centre in Calabar.
According to him, the postponement was due to the fact that they have received the result of only Etung Local Government Area, out of the 18 LGAs in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the postponement was the second time on Sunday due to the lack of results coming in from the 18 LGAs in the state.
The event which was earlier scheduled for 12 noon was postponed to 7 pm because no results had been received as at the time.
In an interview with journalists at the state collation in Calabar, Yomere said they were suppose to commence the collation by 7pm but at about 9pm only the result from Etung LGA was available for announcement.
“We all know that election continued till Sunday in some LGA’s in the state and in many of them especially from the northern part of Cross River collation was still on at the Ward level.
“Also, we all know that from Cross River North to Calabar takes about six to seven hours; by the time they finish the collation at the ward levels there, it would be about 12 midnight and they can only get to Calabar by 7am or 8am on Feb. 27.
“Just taking one result and waiting all through the night is not profitable, so, the state collation officer and myself decided to shift the announcement to 10am on Feb. 27,” he narrated.
While appealing to the various stakeholders to be patient, he said by Feb. 27, they were sure that about 80 per cent of the collated results from the LGAs would have come in.
NAN also reports that the INEC Secretariat in Calabar, venue of the collation and announcement of the result of the presidential and national assembly election, in Cross River was heavily guarded with the presence of armed military and paramilitary officials. (NAN)
