Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Ahead of the governorship poll, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that a national commissioner in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is conniving with leaders of the APC in the state to doctor the list of Electoral Officers and ad-hoc staff.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, who stated this at an interaction with journalists, yesterday, in Abuja, also alleged that some officials of the electoral body are cloning Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in connivance with leaders of the APC.
Consequently, Ologbondiyan challenged the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, to speak out on what role the National Commissioner fingered in the alleged doctoring of the list of electoral officers, will be playing in the governorship poll.
According to him, “We have information and we want INEC to speak out on the allegation that one of its National Commissioners … been used to manipulate SPOs and Local government POs in respect of the election of September 19 and we are challenging Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to speak out on this matter.
“ It is not enough for one character to sit down in Edo State and point accusing fingers. We are talking about what we have heard especially as it concerns manipulation in INEC and we are asking Prof. Yakubu Mahmoud to speak to it.
“We also have information that INEC working in cohort with the APC and their candidate is going to allow for the use of cloned PVC on the day of the election; we have all these allegations and we want to assure the people of Edo State that the PDP is following up and seeking strategies to neutralise all these game plans.”
The PDP spokesman however boasted that its gubernatorial candidate, Governor Godwin Obaseki, will win the Edo governorship poll overwhelmingly that the APC candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu will be “afraid “ to challenge the results at the tribunal.
Ologbondiyan noted that, “If you have been following the campaign, you will discover that the candidate of the PDP is widely accepted. It is not easy as a politician for you to be able to move from ward to ward. But Obaseki has moved around 192 wards and as we speak, campaign is going on. The APC cannot campaign. They do not have followership. They have not people who are working for them and as such, they are only ready for violence.