Gabriel Ada, Akwa Ibom resident electoral commissioner

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom, Mr Gabriel Ada, has alleged that suspected thugs snatched result sheet from an electoral officer in Saturday’s state assembly poll in the state.

Ada told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibesikpo while monitoring the election that the incident took place in one of the polling units in Obot Akara.

According to him, suspected thugs in Obot Akara beat up an electoral officer and took away the result sheet for the polling unit.

“We are still having pockets of violence in one or two places in Obot Akara but I think the security presence is good enough.

“In one of my polling units in Obot Akara, a staff was beaten and the result sheet was collected,’’ Ada said.

He disclosed that security personnel were adequately deployed for the re-run election and that their presence had accounted for relative peace during the exercise.

“Before this time, we had a lot of interactive meetings with political stakeholders, where they all resolved that the election will be peaceful,’’ he said.

Ada restated the commission’s commitment to free, fair and credible re-run, adding that most polling centres received voting materials quite early.

He said that he had not received any report of malfunctioning of the card reader, adding that he was impressed with the turnout of voters for the exercise.

“The card reader is function well and the verification of the PVCs, which it is doing, is very important to us.

“Once a voter is verified, we also cross check to ensure that your name is in the voters’ register and after that, you are given your ballot papers to cast your vote,’’ he said.