INEC speaks on alleged exclusion of Igbos as ad-hoc staff for gov’ship election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Lagos Office on Wednesday night debunked the alleged exclusion of Nigerians from certain regions as ad-hoc staff for the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections slated for this Saturday.

INEC’s rebuttal was contained in a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer (PRO) in Lagos State, Adenike Tadeshe, sent to POLITICS NIGERIA.

This newspaper reports that some social media reports had claimed that a top INEC staff “who is dissatisfied with happenings in the commission”, said the INEC office in Lagos has removed all Igbo and South-South staff in the state from sensitive election duties for the March 18th election.

“They did not give any reason, but it was said that the INEC leadership which takes directives from the Tinubu political group said they do not trust the Igbo/SS staff to do as they will want them to do at the election. LP can actually go public with this. INEC is supposed to be a neutral federal agency,” the report claimed.

But reacting to the viral report, Tadeshe said, “members of staff that are Igbos were all returned to work as collation officers in the forthcoming elections while the Supervisory Presiding Officer (SPOs) maintained their positions.”

The electoral body therefore asked Nigerians to shun the “fake news”.