THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has dismissed the allegation that sensitive materials meant for the conduct of the general elections in Edo State had been tampered with.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Emmanuel Alex-Hart, made this known on Tuesday to our correspondent on the telephone.

The State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Dan Orbih, had in an interview with The PUNCH accused the All Progressives Congress of allegedly tampering with the electoral materials in order to rig the polls.

Orbih had also raised the alarm over the alleged use of Chinese nationals to clone the materials, an allegation the APC State Chairman, Mr. Anselm Ojezua, denied and described as laughable.

But Alex-Hart said that the allegation could not be true as all relevant stakeholders had been involved in the sorting of the sensitive materials, which he said were never moved from the Benin branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria last Friday.

According to him, “It is unfortunate that people peddle such rumours. I was there. The press was there. Party agents were there on that day.

“Since then, materials have not gone anywhere. They have been in the custody of the central bank.

“As of yesterday (Monday), I was there myself to see the situation of things. I was there with some officials.”

“The branch controller was there. His officials were there.

“So, I don’t know where they get all these information. It is fake news, please,” the REC said.

Alex-Hart, however, disclosed that the materials would be finally distributed across the 18 local government areas of the state on Wednesday.

He, therefore, assured Nigerians of  INEC’s commitment to the credibility of the elections in the state.

He added, “They (electoral materials) are intact, 100 per cent. The materials are leaving tomorrow (Wednesday).

“Today (Tuesday), at 2pm, we are going there with party officials and security agencies for final inspection, before they move tomorrow (Wednesday).” – Punch

– Feb. 19, 2019 @ 11:15 GMT |