The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may have given an indication that it may issue former Imo State governor, Rochas okorocha with a certificate of return as senator-elect following an Abuja court order to that effect.
Reacting to the judgement in a statement on Friday, Festus Okoye, INEC director of voters education and publicity, commission however said the commission is worried that “if electoral impunity is allowed to flourish, any individual can harass, intimidate and put the Commission’s officers under duress, procure a favourable declaration and be rewarded with a Certificate of Return.”
INEC said it would meet to “do the needful” over the court judgement as well as another one from a high court in Imo state directing it “not to issue a certificate of return to any of the candidates that contested the Imo west senatorial district election.”
INEC had had refused to issue the certificate to Okorocha after the returning officer said on live television that he declared the former governor winner “under duress.”
But, the commission observed that while the order from the high court of Imo was issued on May 23, “the judgement delivered by the Federal High Court, Abuja is the latest in time and determined the rights of the parties in relation to the subject matter of the Certificate of Return, in respect of the Imo West Senatorial Election.”
“As a law-abiding institution, the Commission will continue to obey judgements of all courts of competent jurisdiction,” the statement added.
It remains doubtful though if a high court can vacate a subsisting order of another high court.
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