Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says a report by Premium Times suggesting that the candidate of Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi, won the presidential election in Rivers State and not the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Bola Tinubu was “prejudicial”.
In the report, the media outfit which was quoted by our medium, Precision, reported Obi won the February 25, 2023, presidential election in Obio/Akpor local government area of Rivers State, South-South Nigeria, according to results uploaded on the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV).
INEC had announced that Tinubu polled 80,239 votes and Obi got 3,829 votes. Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 368 votes while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party got 161 votes.
Tinubu was declared the winner of the election.
In a chat with LEADERSHIP on Wednesday in Abuja, the chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi said, “While the Premium Times reserves the right to publish reports on various issues, it is a known fact that when a matter is before a court, no one, including a media organisation, should comment on it.”
He said what the media house did by publishing a report on a matter before the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal was, “unfortunately, prejudicial. It shouldn’t have been done. I don’t know why they did it or what their intention is.
“It is for this reason that I cannot comment on it,” he said.
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