Nigeria’s electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec), will on Thursday, March 14, present Certificates of Return to the elected members of incoming ninth assembly.
Concise News understands that the federal lawmakers are to receive their Inec certificates at Africa Hall of the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja, the country’s capital.
The ceremony for the newly elected and re-elected senators, according to the commission, will take place at 10am, while those for the House of Representatives will meet with the commission at 2pm.
The electoral body had earlier listed those to be given the certificates of return, with some names, including the outgoing Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha, excluded.
Okorocha had been declared the winner of the Imo West Senatorial election held on 23 February.
But the commission said it excluded Okorocha from the list due to the allegation by its returning officer for Imo that he declared the governor the winner ‘under duress.’
Before the commencement of the polls, National Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, had stated that the commission would not reward “bad behaviour”.
He warned that politicians caught in an act of electoral malpractice would not be certified by the commission.
“I declared this thing before under duress; I’m still under duress declaring this one,” the returning officer, Professor Ibeawuchi Innocent, had said at the collation centre in February.
But the governor faulted the allegations, accusing the returning officer of acting a script.
Okorocha also called on the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state to call the electoral official to order.
