- Alleges flagrant breach of electoral laws
Accuses Commission of aiding Grazing Bill
By Senator Iroegbu
The leadership of International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) has warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that non-conduct of the outstanding legislative election rerun in parts of the South East and South South is an invitation to anarchy and insecurity.
The rights group warned in a letter to the Commission on Thursday and signed by the Board Chairman, Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi, that the delay in the conduct of the rerun polls in the affected constituents in the three Southern and opposition- dominated states of Anambra, Imo and Rivers, is a breach of the constitution and electoral laws.
Umeagbalasi noted that the “legal disputes associated with the conduct of polls into the country’s 469 federal legislative seats on March 28, 2015, mandatorily commenced in April 2015 and mandatorily concluded in December 2015 (six months of procedural proceedings plus two months of appellate proceedings), while the appellate court ordered reruns or related others; must be commenced and concluded in March 2016.
“These laws and judicial orders have been observed in gross breach by your electoral Commission till date.”
He however deplored the fact that for over 12 months after the country’s federal legislative poll was conducted, a number of outstanding reruns abound, especially in the aforementioned three states.
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