The
National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this at a
press conference in Lagos on Monday.
The
APC spokesperson, while displaying pictures of destroyed materials, noted that
some materials were set ablaze while others were immersed in water.
Mohammed
said such materials were supposed to have been preserved but were destroyed in
order to thwart the APC’s case at the Akwa Ibom Governorship Election Petitions
Tribunal.
He
said INEC’s hands were not clean and that was why the commission opposed the
APC’s prayer to inspect the materials.
“The
Department of State Service recently invited the Resident Electoral
Commissioner for Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Austin Okojie, and some other officials
working under him to help in their investigation into the discovery that the
commission had destroyed and attempted to destroy evidence in election
petitions before the state election petitions tribunals by shredding ballot
papers, immersing them in water, mixing them all up and stuffing them in jute
bags which are then left out in the open at the mercy of the elements.
“This evidence was made available to the DSS,
which then launched an investigation to determine those responsible for the
criminal acts. The state of the electoral materials discovered in the course of
the forensic examination ordered by the tribunal was so bad that we now know
why INEC, in concert with the PDP, did everything to stop the forensic
examination of the ballot papers.”
The
APC spokesman said INEC disobeyed three valid orders of the tribunal
authorising the governorship candidate of the APC, Umuna Umana, to conduct a
forensic examination.
Mohammed
said after INEC discovered that the APC had taken photographs of ballot papers
from Itu, Ibesikpo, Ika and Uruan local government areas that showed the
twisted and mangled state of the election materials, the commission stopped the
party from proceeding to other local government areas.
He
said the PDP was trying to cover its tracks and that was why it was engaged in
an orchestrated campaign of misinformation on the proceedings.
Reacting
to the search of the Akwa Ibom Government House by the DSS, Mohammed said the
APC had no hand in it and warned the PDP to stop accusing his party for the
activities of security agencies.
Culled from Punch newspaper
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