All Progressives Congress (APC) spokesman, Mr. Lai Mohammed, says the APC believes the INEC is biased and that there is proof that the electoral referee is acting against the APC.
Speaking was with Rudolf Okonkwo on Sahara TV’s weekly live broadcast, he listed reasons why his party has called for the cancellation of the Anambra gubernatorial election.
“Well I think the chairman of the INEC himself, Professor Attahiru Jega provided the most devastating evidence why the election should be cancelled when he publicly admitted that one of his own officials was induced with money to compromise the election in the Idemili North local government.”
He also said the fact that the so-called officer still remains unnamed is an indictment of INEC.
“When you have a whole local government with over 173,000 voters excluded from the election, I think it is a good enough reason to cancel that election,” he stressed.
He said the APC was concerned because the allegation of bribing electoral officials is not limited to Anambra state. “We want to know how deep that plot is because we have evidence that it did not only stop in Idemili North but it was rampant everywhere”.
Anambra, he noted, has 4608 official polling units but INEC created an additional 1903.
He further alleged that INEC collaborated to delay or withhold electoral material from the regions which were favorable to the APC.
He expressed surprise that the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Anambra state, Professor Onukogu, is still at his post even though the APC had filed several complaints against him at the INEC.
“INEC is in cahoots with the presidency to [prevent] a free and fair election”, he charged.
He said nothing but a fresh election would be acceptable to the APC and refuted claims that the party paid some women to demonstrate against the INEC.
He said any such suggestion is not only an insult to the APC but also to the protesting women who believe they have been disenfranchised.
A group of women embarked on a demonstration earlier this week, protesting INEC’s handling of the election.
Mohammed painted a gloomy picture for the 2015 federal elections. “Frankly speaking, going by what is happening in Anambra, I think 2015 will be a tragedy,” he predicted.
In a separate interview, Olisa Metuh, spokesperson for the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP), expressed a contrary view. He told Rudolf Okonkwo that the Anambra state election was free and fair and that the president and the security operatives should be commended for a job well done. He particularly paid tribute to the security agencies for allegedly preventing the APC from causing “mayhem
Metuh accused the APC of plotting schemes aimed at instilling fear and disaffection for the INEC and a general distrust of the 2015 electoral process.
He said instead of plotting, the APC would be better off fulfilling its duty as a responsible opposition.
“To oppose a government is to bring alternatives”, he said. “They should have a shadow cabinet; they should have a Minister of Health; a shadow Minister of Health…” he suggested, casually.
“The National working Committee has decided that whatever it is to do with the election, we have not seen any reason to call for (a) cancellation of the results,” Metuh said.
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