The All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Election Campaign Council has raised the alarm over an alleged plan by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to destroy electronic materials used for the conduct of the November 11 governorship election in the state.
The APC campaign council, in a statement signed by its spokesman and director of media and publicity Kingsley Fanwo, said the party is aware of moves by the resident electoral commissioner (REC) in the state to help SDP in compromising/tampering with and or destroying electoral materials used in the elections.
The statement said, “It will be recalled that the Social Democratic Party and its Candidate obtained an Ex-parte Order of the Tribunal on the 25th day of November 2023, directing INEC to among other things, allow an inspection of electoral materials used for the Governorship Election for the purpose of assisting the SDP and its Candidate institute and maintain a Petition which at the time had not been filed. INEC was given only 48 hours to comply with the said orders which includes all forms, registers, result sheets, ballot papers and BVAS machines.
“Upon being served with the Order on the 27th day of November 2023, INEC filed a Motion before the Tribunal on the 29th day of November 2023 praying the Court to set aside the said Orders contending that the Tribunal lacked the jurisdiction to make the said Orders and for other reasons such as apparent contradictions in the said Ex-parte Order. That Motion to set aside dated and filed on 29/11/2023 is to our knowledge still before the Tribunal as it has not been heard.
“It must also be noted that till date, the said Order for inspection granted on 25/11/2023 has not been served on the winner of that election, Alhaji Usman Ododo and the APC who are listed as parties in the said Order of Court.
Most importantly is the fact that the Petition in respect of which the order of inspection was initially sought and granted was filed on the 2nd of December 2023 with the SDP and its candidate admitting at paragraph 92 of the contentious Petition that INEC had given them documents contained in the Order which included Voters Register, BVAS Accreditation Reports and Result Sheets.” the statement said.
