Political parties do not direct our actions; rather, the Election Act does. – INEC

The Election Act, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), governs how elections are conducted, not political parties.

At Calabar, Prof. Gabriel Yomere, the Cross River Residency Electoral Commissioner (REC), revealed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Yomere was responding to requests from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to pre-sign the election result sheets for the state Houses of Assembly and gubernatorial elections on Saturday.

The SDP had maintained that the action would aid in monitoring and averting anomalies during the election.

“It is ridiculous and inappropriate to ask INEC to sign result sheets for an election that has not yet taken place.

“In my opinion, the political party making the demand is expressing its anxiety by making this demand.

Why not step up your campaign efforts by going door to door before the election rather than waiting to order INEC to do what you want?

In contrast, he added, INEC will follow the rules for conducting elections. “INEC is not under any responsibility to behave according to the dictates of any political party,” he said.

Prior to the elections, the SDP encouraged INEC to sign the result sheets in a letter.

The party in the letter written by its chairman in Cross River, Dr Ekpeyong Ambo, said the measure would ensure the stakeholders that the umpire would not compromise the results.

According to Ambo, signing the result sheets would allay concerns held by certain political parties in the state that one political party already had the results of the March 18 elections in its possession.

The results of the upcoming elections on March 18 may have been tainted by the electoral umpire, according to rumors spread in certain circles, but signing the election result sheets will put such rumors to rest, according to Ambo.