Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

Ahead of the February 16  presidential election, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that  the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) is recruiting members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as electoral officials for the election.

PDP National Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, who stated this at a press briefing, in Abuja, yesterday, urged the international community to place the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, and other directors in the Commission  on a watchlist.

“The PDP alerts Nigerians that INEC has been taking directives from the Presidency and the APC on how to manipulate our electoral process at various levels.

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“To this end, INEC has collected a list of people who will serve as electoral officials, including ad-hoc staff and returning officers at the polling units, from APC state governors and candidates, across the federation, on the directives of the Presidency. The PDP is already privy to how the lists are populated with APC members and agents of the APC candidates, after clearance by the APC leaders in various states. In the light of the foregoing, the PDP demands that INEC, within the next 48 hours, publish the list of all officials and ad-hoc staff who will play any form of role in the election, at all levels, for verification by stakeholders.

“Any delay or refusal by INEC to publish the list would be clear acceptance that it has been compromised by the APC and this could lead to a very serious crisis with very dire consequences as the PDP will never allow anybody to rig it out in this election,” Ologbondiyan stated.

But, INEC has dismissed PDP’s allegations as baseless. Yakubu’s Chief Press  Secretary, Rotimi Oyekanmi, urged the PDP  “to make available such information public and mention specific names.”