The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Oyo State, Barrister Mutiu Agboke on Monday disclosed that he almost ran away during the collation of the results of the gubernatorial election in the state.
The REC, while speaking at an event in Ibadan, explained that he faced blackmail, temptations and threats from politicians at some point. He said if not for his resilience and commitment to due process, collation of results of the gubernatorial election, could have been stalled and election rendered inconclusive in the state.
Agboke said he had to call the INEC National Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu for help, but was mandated to continue with the collation and do what was right.
He added that threats to compromise during collation included the kidnap and lock up of INEC staff though they were later rescued.
The REC said, “I remember that during the collation of one of the results, there were issues and I needed to call my Chairman.
“I told the Chairman that I was going to run away.
“He laughed over the phone and asked me to continue the collation and do the right thing. He told me this four times.
“After the call, I became emboldened, returned to this hall appearing like wildfire. Then, I told the returning officer that we are not leaving this hall until we conclude the collation, and we did.
“I do not want to talk in specific terms but let us forge ahead. The important thing is that we have conducted the election and we did not allow any form of temptation, in any form, to override our statutory duties.
“The fact is that we had challenges and these challenges were in various forms, but we surmounted them.”
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