Politics

#NigeriaDecides: PDP accuses INEC of hoarding result sheets ahead of polls

Published

6 years ago

February 22, 2019

Ahead of tomorrow’s presidential and National Assembly elections, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Friday accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of withholding sensitive election materials, including collation (form EC8D) and result (form EC8E) sheets, in states considered to be PDP strongholds.

PDP’s spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement, said intelligence at the party’s disposal showed that certain compromised INEC officials were working with agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to hold back the materials.

He further alleged that the deliberate hoarding of the said materials was to pave way for the allocation of fictitious results for President Muhammadu Buhari and APC National Assembly candidates in the affected states.

He explained, “For instance, in Abia state, no collation forms and result sheets have been received for the Senatorial elections, while no result sheets for all the elections have been received in Delta and various other states.
“Also in Kano state only 105 Senate result sheets have been received in Garko Local Government Area instead of 144.
“Rogo LGA has received 106 Senate result sheets instead of 141; Danbatta has received 28 cartons of House of Representatives ballot papers instead of 29, while Tofa LGA has received 18 cartons instead of 19. This scenario is playing out in many other states.”

PDP, therefore, charged the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to immediately release the materials to their respective designated points and cautioned that it will never allow anybody to use any means to rig it out in this election.
The party further said Yakubu must note that this serious infraction is already heightening tension and would eventually lead to serious crisis in affected states ahead of the election, if nothing was done to stem the trend.
Part of the statement reads, “The PDP recalls that it had earlier alerted that the INEC Chairman is again succumbing to back-channel intimidation by the APC and the Buhari Presidency to accede to their rigging plot, which includes hoarding and in some cases, delay in the distribution of sensitive materials meant for PDP stronghold as well as using APC agents as electoral officers.

“The PDP cautions the INEC Chairman not to allow the APC to use him to derail the electoral process, particularly after the disgraceful postponement of the February 16 elections.
“Nigerians are alert. They are noting the trend and will spare no thoughts in standing against any attempt by INEC and the APC to rig this election.”