By PATRICK ABANG, Calabar –
Against the backdrop of alleged plans to rig the forthcoming election in Cross River State, the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has demanded to inspect and to take full record of the IMEI number of the 3,281 BVAS machines which is in INEC custody and deployed for the elections in the State.
Addressing journalist at the Ernest Etim Bassey Press Center on Monday in Calabar, Comrade Anthony Bissong Attah alleged that there’s a plan by powerful political forces to use security and INEC to rig elections in the state.
The council maintained that IPAC in Cross River State has enjoyed a smooth working relationship with INEC throughout the process of filing candidates, that is why unlike other states of the federation, they had limited cases of post primaries litigation.
Part of the statement read: “However, this relationship encountered a major test a fourth night ago. This test was packaged in the social media post authored by Citizen Agba Jalingo where he alleged that BVAS meant for CRS were being chauffeured at night into the governor’s lodge.
“When this information filtered to us, as an organized body, we approached the REC exactly two weeks ago to ascertain the real state of the BVAS: He told us his side of the story after which we demanded to inspect the BVAS to see things for ourselves. The REC gleefully accepted and asked us to return to the secretariat by 2pm the following day to enable us to inspect the machines in the company of the Police and the DSS. On arriving INEC secretariat the next day, we were barred from seeing the BVAS.”
The council stressed that the only way they can trust the electoral umpire going forward is to inspect the BVAS in addition to taking record of the IMEI of all the 3281 machines sent to Cross River State to reignite and renew their confidence in the commission.
The statement added that:: “It is very appalling to inform you that up till this moment, we haven’t been allowed to inspect the BVAS machine. We are here therefore to let the general public note that we maintain our reservation on the true state of the BVAS machine. In fact, we are even tempted to align ourselves with the allegation by Agba Jalingo because it’s very obvious there is something INEC is not telling us.
“The current stalemate orchestrated by the Resident Electoral Commissioner cast a lot of doubt about the level of transparency of the commission in CRS. While we reaffirm our trust in the Prof Mahmood Yakubu, we cannot say same about Pastor Prof. Gabriel Yomere.”
“The council reaffirms its readiness to deploy all political arsenals to ensure that unlike previous elections, this current election turns out to be the best ever conducted in the history of CRS and it called on the public to support IPAC to ensure that the importance well-meaning Nigerians places on the 2023 election will not be truncated.
In a swift reaction, the state REC of INEC, Prof. Gabriel Yomeri, said in a statement debunked the allegations as lse and baseless.
Prof. Yomeri said that: “INEC Cross River State office hereby states that this is not true. In a bid to ascertain the fact of the publication, the Commission went into physically counting all the BVAS sent to Cross River State and confirmed that none was missing.“The information is a deliberate falsehood by mischief makers intended to mislead the public and unduly ignite anxiety.
“Cross Riverians and members of the general republic are enjoined to ignore the information as the number of BVAS deployed from INEC headquarters to Cross River State Office is intact and adequately secured.
“INEC Cross River State Office cautions all citizens against circulating fake news capable of heating the polity and undermining the neutrality and integrity of the Commission.
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