… says ‘they can destroy your reputation’
Former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Dr Mustapha Lecky, has advised the newly appointed Chairman of the electoral body to be wary of alleged nefarious activities of returning and collation officers during elections.
He described the returning and collation officers as the bad eggs hindering the smooth operations of INEC during elections.
Lecky, who stated this while speaking on ‘Politics Today’ programme on Channels Television on Thursday, accused the returning and collation officers of always messing up elections in Nigeria.
According to him, they are mostly responsible for the bad reputation of the Commission.
Lecky said, “The incoming chairman should have zero tolerance for election Infractions being at political party level or at the people working as staff of the Commission.
“I have an issue with returning and collation officers. They mess up elections in Nigeria. They are mostly responsible for the bad reputation of INEC because of the avoidable drama when it comes to collation and declaration of results.
“And I think we need to pay attention to this thing and decide a different strategy on how to manage the election proper, especially in the collation and declaration of results.”
