We’ll conclude suspended Rivers elections by Oct —INEC

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured stakeholders in Rivers State that it will conclude the suspended federal and state constituency elections in the state by October.

This was contained in the daily bulletin of the commission, made available to newsmen in Abuja, on Tuesday.

According to the bulletin, the national commissioner in charge of Electoral Operations, Hajiya Amina Bala Zakari, expressed the commission’s position on the suspended elections when she addressed stakeholders in Port Harcourt, last week.

The bulletin quoted Zakari as calling on stakeholders, especially members of the political class, to cooperate with the commission for a free and fair poll.

Hajiya Zakari emphasised that INEC was non-partisan and was interested in strengthening Nigeria’s democracy by providing political parties and contestants a level playing field, adding that the commission was worried that some parts of the state had no representation at the national and state assemblies.

The state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Elder Aniedi Ikoiwak, earlier explained that the decision of INEC to suspend the March 19 poll was based on field reports from electoral officers and security agencies.