INEC REC bows to pressure to sign election result sheets

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Cross River, Prof. Gabriel Yomere, says he has personally signed all 3,281 result sheets meant for Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
Yomere disclosed this in Calabar yesterday during the inspection of the electoral materials for the polls, before their onward distribution to the various local government areas of the state. He said that the need to sign the result sheets became necessary, to douse tension and also dispel rumours that the sheets had already been issued out to a particular political party.

He said: “The rumours have been rife that INEC in Cross River has already sold the result sheets to a particular political party. But you can see for yourselves that everything is intact and has not been tampered with, as it was kept in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“While I’m not bothered with the rumours, to ensure transparency of the process, I will sign all the result sheets for the governorship election while the Administrative Secretary will sign that of the House of Assembly election before they are distributed to various council areas.” The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), has lauded the REC’s decision to sign the result sheets for the elections. Bissong Attah, IPAC Chairman in the state, who spoke at the venue of the distribution, said it was what they had requested the commission to do to curb what played out during the Feb. 25 polls.