TheCable

Jones Onyereri, deputy governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo, says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is not ready for the conduct of the November 11 off-cycle elections in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa states.

Onyereri spoke on Tuesday during an interview on Arise Television.

He alleged that during a stakeholder meeting, a national commissioner of INEC asked journalists who were present, to leave the room.

“I am not sure INEC is ready for this election to be honest with you because we just had a special stakeholder meeting today which was a big sham,” Onyereri said.

“It was most embarrassing because before the meeting actually started, after the opening speech by the national commissioner, he had asked the media to walk out of the venue.

“It was most shocking. Everybody, every candidate, we all stood up and shouted at him and said why would you let that be? Are we running a secret society here?

“I mean this is a major election. A gubernatorial election that would come up on the 11th of November. Why would you want them to walk out?

“You must tell the world how ready you are for the election, unless there is something you need to hide.”

INEC had said it will deploy 46,084 staff for the off-cycle polls in the three states.