INEC has postponed the announcement of the results of the Cross River State elections until 10am on Monday.
This was revealed by Gabriel Yomere, INEC Resident Election Commissioner (REC) for Cross River on Sunday evening at the state collection center in Calabar.
According to him, the postponement was due to the fact that they received the result only from the Etung Local Government Area, out of 18 LGAs in the state.
He News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the postponement was the second time on Sunday due to a lack of results from the 18 LGAs in the state.
The event that was previously scheduled for 12 noon was postponed to 7 pm because no results had been received by that time.
In an interview with journalists at the state collation in Calabar, Mr. Yomere said they were supposed to start the collation at 7pm, but around 9pm only the Etung LGA result was available for announcement.
“We all know that the election continued through Sunday in some LGAs in the state and in many of them, especially in the northern part of Cross River, the collation was still at the Ward level.
“Also, we all know that it takes six to seven hours from Cross River North to Calabar; by the time they finish their snack at the neighborhood levels, it would be around 12 at night and they will only be able to arrive in Calabar at 7 am or 8 am on February 27th.
“Simply taking a result and waiting all night is not cost effective, so the state collection officer and I decided to move the announcement to 10 a.m. on February 27,” he said.
NAN also reports that the INEC Secretariat in Calabar, the venue for the collation and announcement of the results of the presidential and national assembly elections in Cross River, was heavily guarded by military officers and armed paramilitaries. (YAYA)