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| INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega |
By Chukwudi Akasike, Friday Olokor and Etim Ekpimah
As
the May 29 handover date draws near, fresh controversy over the election
results has been ignited between the Peoples Democratic Party and the All
Progressives Congress in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.
According
to two online portals, Premium Times and Sahara Reporters, the
governorship elections in the two states were flawed. Both websites reported
that the votes cast were more than the number of voters accredited by card
readers in the states.
While
the PDP in Rivers State insisted that the online report was not true, the APC
said the report was true and factual.
The
reports specifically indicated that while the Independent National Electoral
Commission announced the PDP governorship candidate, Nyesom Wike, as the winner
of the April 11, poll with 1,029,102 votes, only 292,878 voters were accredited
for the election in the state.
Speaking
in separate interviews with SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday, the State
Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, accused the APC of
sponsoring reports against his party.
Nwanosike
explained that the PDP would not panic adding that the party would emerge
victorious at the tribunal.
Nwanosike
said, “What makes up accredited voters are those cards that were verified,
authenticated and those that were verified and not authenticated. If the card
is verified and authenticated, it would read in the machine as being
successful.
“If
a card is verified as INEC card and it is not authenticated, it would show red;
it would decline. At that point, INEC said one should use the incident form to
accredit the person. A lot of such incidents happened and people used incident
forms to get accredited and vote.”
But
the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Chris Finebone, dismissed PDP’s
claim that the online report was false, adding that his party decided not to
immediately put the information on the conflicting figures of the governorship
election in the state in public domain.
He
told SUNDAY PUNCH that the INEC in Abuja had obliged the legal team of
the state APC the information that was recently published by the online
platforms.
Finebone
pointed out that the PDP rigging machine was good at everything, but lacked the
sense of Mathematics, adding that it was clear, even to a toddler that ‘some
fellows’ awarded figures to themselves.
He
said, “Because of the position we occupy, some of us are not expected to put
out certain information just like that. But I am happy that this information
has gone viral. But I can assure you that we knew this close to two weeks ago
when the information was obliged our legal team.
“The
legal team of the State APC was privy to this information that is currently
online. But we have our systematic way of managing information, especially
critical information like this. That was why you probably did not hear it from
us.”
When
contacted to react to the online report, the State INEC Public Relations
Officer, Antonia Nwobu, told our correspondent that she had not read the
report.
Nwobu,
however, promised to react to the matter as soon as she read it.
In
Akwa Ibom, the hierarchy of the APC said they were aware of the situation and
had already taken some steps, one of which was to notify the party top echelon
including the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd).
In
text messages to SUNDAY PUNCH, APC chairman, Dr. Amadu Atai; said the
matter came to the fore during a visit of Akwa Ibom State delegation to Buhari,
in Abuja in May 7, to congratulate him over his election victory.
“For
instance, data obtained from INEC head office in Abuja show that the total
number of accredited voters captured by card readers for the gubernatorial and
House of Assembly elections in Akwa Ibom State was 437,128, but the figure
declared by the state INEC office was 1,122,836,” Atai said.
However,
calls and text messages to the Commissioner of Information, Mr. Aniekan Umanah
and the PDP Governorship Campaign Publicity Director, Udom Ekarette Udo and the
State Chairman, Paul Ekpo were not responded to.
When
contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu, replied
via e-mail “I think these are posers best directed to the tribunal with
requisite evidence,” he said.
Culled from The Punch
newspaper
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