Politics
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THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, caucus in the National Assembly has accused officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the Nigeria Police of plotting to rig the Edo State governorship election in favour of the All Progressives Congress, APC. The lawmakers in a press briefing on the Edo election in Abuja alleged that there was an arrangement between the INEC and APC to issue sensitive materials particularly result sheets and incident forms to the ruling party before the election to enable them originate fake results which would be submitted with the assistance of security men deployed from the state from Abuja.
The PDP caucus in the House of Representatives led by Leo Ogor explained that the security men from Abuja would act as conveyors into the collation centres adding that the suspected ‘compromised’ INEC Returning Officers recruited by the APC would declare the fake election results at the Police Stations and other collation centres under police protection. Ogor who is the Minority Leader of the House further alleged that “INEC surreptitiously and in conjunction with APC compiled names and list of INEC staff and persons (Ad-hoc staff) sympathetic with APC to superintend over election, to skew same in favour of the APC.
“Thus INEC staff earlier listed for the elections was replaced majorly with people from a particular section of the country, claiming that most people from the South-South are pathetic to the PDP. Further, APC members were asked to submit list of preferred INEC staff and University lecturers. Owe have reliable information of a grand conspiracy between the All Progressives Congress and some commissioners and staff of Independent National Electoral Commission to compromise the governorship election in Edo State in favour of APC.
“This arrangement is firmed between the APC and a highly placed Commissioner in INEC. It is pertinent to add that this arrangement was made in the just concluded Bayelsa State and Rivers State elections but same failed as the fake results could not be brought into the collation centre, though same succeeded in Imo Senatorial rerun. That has informed the move to relocate the collation centres in Edo State to Police Stations, to make it easier to receive the concocted results. It shall also fail in Edo State.”
The PDP caucus in the National Assembly said that it had information that the APC which it said had openly bragged to have perfected their act of rigging tagged “scientific and digital rigging. They are arranging with ICT officials and some staff of INEC to alter the card readers which will malfunction to give an inaccurate figure which was not generated from legitimate accreditation in the field.
“The card readers are to be front-loaded with figures that will tally with their concocted results, regardless of the accreditation that takes place in the field on the day of the election. The e-collation officers that are especially select d to favour the APC are also instructed to accept the concerted result and return the APC as elected ‘at all cost.”
Other accusations made by the lawmakers were the alleged unlawful movement of collation centres to police station by the INEC in collaboration with security agencies, false security report and the alleged harassment and intimidation of none APC members. – Vanguard
— Sep 27, 2016 @ 19:40 GMT
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