Chief Press Secretary to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Rotimi Oyekanmi, has said that the commission should not be blamed for electoral violence.
The Herald gathered that Oyekanmi stated that the politicians should rather be blamed for fomenting trouble during elections.
According to him, INEC has been unfairly accused of partiality. “Having credible elections depends on the behaviour of the political class. If they play by the rules, there will be no violence,” he said.
Oyekanmi said INEC has resisted acts of violence by refusing to issue certificates of returns to offenders but has been overruled by the courts.
Oyekanmi spoke in Lagos at a roundtable/presentation of Trends in reportage of 2019 election issues (scorecard for July-September 2019) by the International Press Centre (IPC). The report is part of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria.
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