CR LP Says PDP And INEC Plan To Rig Polls

With just hours to unarguably Nigeria’s most anticipated elections, the Labour Party in CRS says it has evidence to show “…that some senior INEC officers in CRS are collaborating with the PDP to rig Saturday’s elections…”. The plan the party says will involve starting “accreditation late in all Labour Party strongholds, using scanned result sheets in the polling units whilst keeping the original copies to be filled falsely and submitted in favour of the PDP, the use of military personnel to arrest, harass and intimidate LP supporters…” and further that “some sensitive election materials have been illegally moved to the houses of some PDP leaders”.

Austine Ibok, CR LP chairman, who addressed a select corps of journalists in his office, added that while INEC has promised a free and fair election, it was outrageous that some ad hoc officers to be used by the electoral umpire in CRS “are specifically recruited to manipulate elections in favour of PDP as boasted many times by Liyel Imoke whose target is to fraudulently defeat Bassey Otu, Alex Egbona and Sandy Onor who enjoy large followership among the electorate”.

On the issue of NYSC members being engaged by INEC, Ibok revealed that, “it is shocking that the PDP has procured fake discharge certificates from NYSC for some members of the party to be recruited as INEC staff for the election”. He challenged NYSC to “tell the truth and INEC to promptly investigate this aspect of the plan, withdraw such certificates to avoid violent reaction in the field when such persons are uncovered”.

Ibok’s press statement titled, “PDP’s Rigging Strategy In Collaboration With INEC”, also wondered why the PDP which has been in power for 16 years, cannot comfortably win elections but must rely on rigging her candidates into elective positions. LP members were advised to be vigilant throughout the period of the elections and after and resist any attempt to take the laws into their hands.

When www.calitown.com called the PDP chairman in CRS, John Okon for his party’s reactions to the allegations at 11.07 am, Friday, March 27, 2015, he responded that he was indisposed at the moment but Goddy Ettah, the state secretary of the PDP emphatically responded to the allegations thus:”…the allegations are spurious. Are they putting aside all the efforts INEC has put into preparations for this election? Materials for this election only landed in Calabar on Wednesday and all the political parties in CRS were there to check the materials manifest before they were taken to the Central Bank, Calabar. I can understand that at times like this, the LP will make this kind os allegations to help them prepare the minds of their supporters before they lose elections”, Ettah concluded.