By Godwin Oghre

Sapele—There was confusion at the Sapele office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as officials in the commission, led by the Electoral Officer, EO, Mrs Chinyere Obasi, clashed with representatives of All Progressives Congress, APC, led by Chief Thomas Akpodiete, over the implementation of an order of the state House of Assembly Election Tribunal, Asaba, that an attendance register be signed by both parties on the second day of the re-counting of the ballot paper used for the April 11, 2015 Sapele House of Assembly election.

The court had, upon granting an application by the two parties on 25/7/2015, for the re-counting of the ballot papers for the election, specified that at the end of the second day (28-29/7/2015) of the re-counting exercise, parties, that is, APC’s candidate in the election, Chief Felix Anirah and his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP counterpart, Chief Monday Igbuya or their representatives should sign the attendance register of the commission, along with security officials present.

However, pandemonium broke out when the APC team waited in-vain at the commission’s Sapele office on day two, due to the absence of the PDP team and its candidate, Chief Igbuya, and subsequently demanded to sign the commission’s attendance register in line with the court order, but they were allegedly denied access to it by the EO, leading to an argument between the APC officials and those of the commission, which lasted for over an hour.

In the ensuing confusion, a team of police men from the Sapele Police Area Command, led by the Divisional Police Officer, Mr Mamma Rijau, arrived the scene, and requested to take the EO away for safety reasons but she refused.

It was after the police had battled for over two hours calming down the situation that the APC officials succeeded in signing the commission’s attendance register, though the police did not sign.