The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended the electoral officer for Jos North Local Government Area, Fred Ogboji, over missing ballot papers in Saturday’s rerun election.

This is contained in a statement by Isah Idakwo, the state head of the Department of Electoral Operations, on behalf of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) on Sunday in Jos.

He directed the electoral officer to step aside to give room for a proper investigation.

“You are directed to step aside from office to enable the commission to carry out a proper investigation into the circumstances that led to the missing House of Representatives ballot papers in 16 polling units in your local government area.

“You are further directed to hand over to Mr Elekwa Onyemauche, the local government supervisor, and the two registration area supervisors of Tudun Wada Kabong and Naraguta B to coordinate and complete the remaining process,” he said.

On Saturday, INEC rescheduled the election in 16 Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency polling units following the discovery that some ballot papers were missing.

Oliver Agundu, the state INEC REC, said in a statement that the election had been rescheduled for Sunday, February 4.

Mr Agundu said voting would commence at 9:30 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m.

The REC stated that the commission discovered on the eve of the rerun that the ballot papers for 16 polling units in Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency had gone missing.

He said the matter had been referred to the security agencies for investigation.

(NAN)