The Independent National Electoral Commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Cross River State, Prof. Gabriel Yomere, and the state Commissioner of Police, Gyogon Grimah, have commended the huge turnouts by the electorate at both the state and federal constituencies rerun elections.
In separate interviews, both also said, in terms of security at most polling units, there was peaceful conduct of the by-elections held in Yala and Obanliku LGAs as well as in Akamkpa/Biase federal constituency
The REC scored the rerun high, saying that, unlike the ones in the past, Saturday’s exercise was better in all respects.
“The turnout is impressive considering what we used to have in other rerun elections. There is no report of violence and no report of BIVAS machines malfunctioning. We used our staff in the election and not ad hoc staff,” Prof. Yomere stated.
Commissioner of Police Grimah also said that the rerun was generally hitch-free, save for a polling unit in Yala where hoodlums attempted to cause infractions and were curtailed accordingly.