The Independent National Electoral Commission cannot be held responsible for the poor turnout of petitioners in
Saturday ’s verification of signatures for the recall of Sen . Dino Melaye, an official has said .
The INEC Federal Commissioner in -charge of Kogi , Kwara and Nasarawa states , Alhaji Mohammed Haruna, made the statement in Lokoja shortly after the end of the exercise .
Haruna said that the main concern of INEC was to ensure transparency in the process , insisting that the organisation was neutral in the bid to recall Melaye from the Senate .
“Turnout is not our problem; turnout is the problem of parties concerned , ours is to ensure transparency ,” Haruna said .
Commenting on insinuations that INEC might tamper with the wish of the people, the commissioner said that nothing like that would happen , stressing that the agency had no interest in who won or lost in the matter .
“ Nothing untoward will happen , I assure you. Whatever happened at the polling units is what INEC will announce ,” he stated .
Commenting on the mix up in the list of petitioners , Haruna said that mistakes in such exercise was normal but gave an assurance that the mistakes would be corrected .
He lauded the peaceful conduct of the people before and during the exercise.
News Agency of Nigeria reports that in Koton Karfe and Lokoja , the people conducted themselves well , although the turnout was poor .
At Ukwo polling unit in Koton Karfe, 18 out of 440 petitioners came for the verification , while at Oworo polling unit in Felele area of Lokoja , none of the 815 petitioners showed up .
Also at polling unit 004 of Ward 3 in Lokoja , 32 out of the 1 ,251 petitioners showed up .
During the exercise , there was no case of malfunctioning of card reader machines while security personnel adequately manned the polling centres .
Melaye, representing Kogi West in the Assembly, has been struggling to retain his seat following a petition by some of his constituents in 2017 that he was not representing them well .
The senator’s accusers gathered signatures to demand his recall but Melaye, who accused the state Governor , Mr . Yahaya Bello, of being the mastermind of the plot , mobilised his supporters to resist the move.
He subsequently approached the court to stop the process but could not get the relief he sought at the Court of Appeal .


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