The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba was today accused by the Chairman, Anti-Corruption Commission of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yusuf Ali (SAN), of over-stepping his bounds when he issued a directive that electorates should go home after voting and should not wait for the votes to be counted.
The senior lawyer also insisted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had final directives over the conduct of the elections.
Ali also stated that the view of the INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, that no law prevented electorates from waiting for the counting of the votes was valid and lawful.
Apparently reacting to the IGP's directives, the SAN reiterated the need for people to have value for the sanctity of human lives.
Ali charged all stakeholders to ensure that the March 28 and April 11 general elections are violence-free, transparent and credible.
According to him, "As far as elections are concerned, the position of INEC is final and this is not the first time the IG would be going beyond his bounds with respect to law.
"He took it upon himself to be interpreting the constitution when the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Party. The IGP said Tambuwal has lost his seat.
"So for me, when INEC says you stay there till the end of the election, no other person and no other authority in Nigeria can contravene that because the conduct of election is the preclusive preserve of INEC."
Photo credit: The Punch
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