On Sunday in Yenagoa, Charles Adias, INEC collation officer for Rivers in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections, raised the alarm once more about the ongoing threat to his life.
Because of the claimed threats, Mr Adias, vice-chancellor of the Federal University of Otuoke in Bayelsa, suspended results collation during the elections.
He said that some followers of one of the political parties were wanting his life and the lives of his family members, despite the fact that they had nothing to do with the conduct of elections or the computation of results.
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The collation officer stated that individuals accusing him of cheating the Rivers elections were disseminating his photograph and personal information on social media and urging party members to deal with him.
On Sunday, he noted that while he was aware of the hardships of being a collation officer, he chose to weather the storm due to his dedication to the growth and development of Nigeria’s political process.
“As statutorily designated, I received reports of collated and announced results from local government area council collation officers.
“I collated votes scored by each political party from Forms EC8C into Form EC8D and entered the votes scored in the spaces provided,’’ he stated.
He went on to say that the results compiled by local governments comprised the state’s summary, which he double-checked for computational accuracy with the Collation Support and Result Verification System secretariat.
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Mr Adias said that he followed all legal procedures when announcing the results in front of party agents, INEC officials, security people, and observers.
On February 26, while on his way to Port Harcourt to report to duty, he reported that he began to receive multiple phone calls and text messages threatening, harassing, and degrading his person and family.
He went on to say that he had no idea his photo and phone number were already being circulated on social media, and that he had influenced votes and scores of candidates by manipulating the BVAS machines.
“On getting to Port Harcourt, I informed the Resident Electoral Commissioner about my experiences, which he condemned and promised that my safety was assured.
“He pledged that INEC would do something about it,’’ Adias stated.
Mr. Adias added that after compiling results for three local government regions on February 26, he retired to his hotel room to prepare for the next day, only to have the threatening calls and texts continue.
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“I managed to bear it till the following day when I set out to collate results for 18 more local government areas.
“At the end of the hectic process, the results for Obio/Akpor and Degema Local Government Areas were not ready.
“Considering all that had happened, I decided to adjourn the collation of results on February 28 and insisted on a press conference.”
He said this was to inform everyone of the threats which might affect the collation exercise.
“I insisted that until INEC addressed the issues of misinformation and blackmail and defined the roles of SCOPE, I would not go on with the exercise.
“My request was granted, and INEC held a press conference debunking all the misinformation and disinformation. Thereafter, the collation continued, and the exercise was completed.
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“There is no truth in the rumours that had been peddled. It is just a figment of the imagination of their bearers to what end I cannot really ascertain,’’ Mr Adias stated.
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