Collation officer raises alarm over threat to life in rivers state

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Collation Officer for the Presidential election in Rivers State, Prof Charles Adias, has raised alarm over threat to his life by some supporters of a political party in Rivers State

Penpushing reports that the collation officer who is the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Otuoke in Bayelsa State, however, declined to disclose the names of those threatening his life despite the appeal from the Commissioner of Police in the State, Aderemi Adeoye

‘For the past two days, I have been receiving threats. Even as I am seated here, for every minute, I have received at least 10 calls. My telephone number and my face has been posted on all platforms to the extent that I am here to rig the elections against their party’, Adias said.

“I believe I should address you so that you can tell your members that what we do here is transparency. We do not have any regard for what has happened before here. As academics, our duties are to teach through research and development and we are called upon to serve society through community service, and this little we are doing is part of that responsibility. Society should accept it that way and praise us for even standing up to serve this country”, he added

Penpushing further reports that the disturbed electoral umpire explained that his duty as the collation officer for the presidential election in the state was to receive results from local government areas and collate them as presented.

“And this is for the parties. Ensure that if you have issues about results and votes, go back to the level of the polling units and do not come back here and transfer aggressions to members of the society that are here offering free services to this nation,” he said.

Penpushing also reports that following the development sources said the collation officer have resolved that he would not proceed until the resident electoral commissioner in the state addressed some of the issues.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Collation Officer was quoted to have pointed out some of the issues raised by those threatening him to include faulty Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS)

Meanwhile, results had been collated from 21 out of the 23 local government areas of the state, while the remaining two local government areas are Obio-Akpor where Governor Nyesom Wike hails from and Degema, home of his Deputy, Ipalibo Banigo.

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