The Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress traded words on Monday over an alleged plot to tamper with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System used for the September 21 governorship election in Edo State.
The PDP accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of deliberately delaying the release of the electoral materials to its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, who is poised to challenge the outcome of the poll in court.
This was as the APC also led a protest to the INEC office in Benin, warning the electoral commission against colluding with the PDP to tamper with the electoral materials.
The PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, claimed that compromised INEC officials and the All Progressives Congress were attempting to manipulate data in the BVAS machines and election materials to benefit the defeated APC candidate.
In the September 21 Edo State governorship election, the APC candidate, Monday Okpebholo, won with 291,667 votes, defeating PDP’s Asue Ighodalo, who polled 247,274 votes.
Speaking in Abuja, on Monday, the party, in a statement by Ologunagba, said, “The Peoples Democratic Party strongly condemns the reported refusal by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Edo State to grant the PDP and its candidate, Dr Asue Ighodalo, access to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines and other materials used in the September 21, 2024 Edo State governorship election against the order of court.
“Our party also alerts the public of how compromised INEC officials used the ploy of waiting for ‘directives from above’ to allegedly allow thugs recruited by the All Progressives Congress and some unscrupulous police operatives to invade the INEC office in Edo State, to cause confusion and frustrate the PDP from accessing these sensitive materials.
“INEC’s refusal to release the materials is in a brazen affront to the order of the Edo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal holden at Benin City, dated 29th day of September 2024.”
According to Ologunagba, INEC’s action “validates reports of criminal connivance of some INEC officials with the APC to obstruct the course of justice and suppress evidence of the manipulation and doctoring of election results, which was clearly won by the PDP and its candidate.”
Ologunagba stated that INEC and the APC should understand that the PDP and the people of Edo State would not permit the mandate freely given to the PDP to be unlawfully taken by the APC.
“Information available to the PDP indicates that the heavily compromised INEC officials and the APC are working to alter the data in the BVAS machines, results sheets, ballot papers, and other vital information in favour of the defeated APC candidate.
“It is imperative to draw the attention of Nigerians and the international community of a pattern by the INEC to continue to present itself as a threat to democracy against its mandate to promote democratic principles of free, fair, and credible elections, in line with the constitution and extant electoral laws,” it said.
The party, therefore, called on the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, to immediately redeem the image of the commission by ensuring the immediate release of the BVAS machines, the results sheets, ballot papers, and other vital materials used for the election for inspection by the party and candidate in compliance with the order of the tribunal.
Speaking at the INEC office in Benin on Monday, one of the members of the legal team of Ighodalo, Olusegun Jolaawo (SAN), said the inability of the team to begin the inspection of electoral materials might hinder the filling of the petition to the tribunal.
He said the legal team was told it would be contacted by INEC when the materials and BVAS machines were ready.
He said, ‘“I am a member of the legal team mandated to register our displeasure with the election results and submit a petition of the same.
“We came here (INEC office) today (Monday) in furtherance of our attempt to get materials to flesh up our petition as granted by a court order received on September 29, 2024.
“When we got here, we were unable to get an audience with the Resident Electoral Commissioner but we were able to meet with the head of the legal department, who told us that they were preparing a schedule for our inspection.
“We have not been able to inspect because we have not had access to the BVAS machines to interrogate the same with our team.
“The risk of not giving us access to inspect materials is obvious to everybody. Time expires on Saturday for us to file this petition, and today is Monday.”
In a court paper made available to The PUNCH on Monday, Ighodalo and the PDP obtained a court-enrolled order directing the INEC to, among other things, hand over the comprehensive list of all the electoral materials available in its custody for the inspection of Ighodalo and the PDP and “the taking of the Certified True Copy thereof.”
The order was given in the suit marked EPT/ED/GOV/01M/2024 between Ighodalo and PDP as applicants and INEC, Okpebholo, and the APC as respondents.
Meanwhile, thousands of supporters of the APC, on Monday, besieged the INEC office in Benin, protesting an alleged plot by Ighodalo to tamper with result sheets and other election materials in the commission’s office, ahead of the sitting of the tribunal.
Led by the Deputy Governor-elect, Dennis Idahosa, the protesters blocked the entrance into the INEC office, creating gridlock around the area as they cautioned INEC against allowing anybody to tamper with the election documents.
When The PUNCH visited the INEC office at about 2.40 pm on Monday, it was cordoned off as policemen were seen moving around the building while a few members of staff moved in and out of the compound.
