Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello of breeding fake police men and the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. James Apam, of plans to compromise the forthcoming Presidential and National Assembly elections by substituting trained ad hoc staff for preferred APC candidates.
PDP also said it has lost confidence in Commissioner of Police Hakeem Buhari of being neutral in the election and asked for his immediate transfer and that of the REC from Kogi State.
In a statement signed by Idris Abubakar Lokoja, Chairman of the PDP in Lokoja LGA, it also accused the REC of giving out the unclaimed PVC of the local government area to the ruling APC to enable them manipulate the election to their favour.
But in a swift reaction, the REC, Proof James Apam, said INEC under his leadership will never compromise, saying the PDP’s fear was unfounded.
He said all the sensitive materials, including the card readers, were immediately retrieved after the postponement and were moved to the CBN for safe keeping, stressing that there was no way the PVC could be substituted as it contains thump prints identities of individuals
Meanwhile, at a stakeholders meeting the State NYSC coordinator, Ahile Oludolapo, expressed fear
that NYSC kits will be made available to fake corps members during the election, saying they could be kidnapped and replaced.
She said the parents of the corps members do not want them to participate in the elections following its postponement.
However, the REC said there should be no fear of fake corps members being used to conduct the elections.
Also reacting, the governor’s media aide, Kingsley Fanwo, said the PDP has reduced itself to peddling allegations instead of campaigning as hard as the APC.
He said the APC state leadership under Governor Yahaya Bello has campaigned hard across the state “and we are confident of winning the elections convincingly.”