The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba, and the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Friday clashed over the police chief’s “vote and go home order.”
While the IGP had warned voters to....
go back to their homes after casting their votes on election days, Jega said the electoral law did not state that voters could not or should not wait to watch and ensure that their votes count.
The IGP, who addressed accredited observers for the forthcoming general elections in Abuja, said the possibility of committing electoral offence was very high if voters stayed back at the polling booths for votes to be counted.
He said that each polling unit would have at least two or three policemen to protect votes cast by the electorate.
But Jega disagreed with the police chief.
The INEC chairman, who appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, said there is no part of the Electoral Act that forbids voters from waiting at the polling booths, adding that the law was only against loitering.
Also, Jega’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Kayode Idowu, stressed the position of the commission’s boss, adding that no law bars voters from staying around polling centres.
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