PDP Demands The Publishing Of Names, Pictures, Posting Of All Appointed RTECs For September 21 Election.
“..... We wish to draw the attention of INEC and Edolites to the sinister plan of the APC which has been uncovered by our intelligence unit."
Aziegbemi while addressing journalists in Benin City on Friday insisted that APC could not be trusted with the governance of the state following its failure to upload the required number of agents at the 3037 polling units in the state.
The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, has alleged that the All Progressive Congress, APC, has plans to rig the election by recruiting and employing fake INEC technical personnel to tamper with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
Aziegbemi while addressing journalists in Benin City on Friday insisted that APC could not be trusted with the governance of the state following its failure to upload the required number of agents at the 3037 polling units in the state.
He said, “We wish to draw the attention of INEC and Edolites to the sinister plan of the APC which has been uncovered by our intelligence unit.
“APC has perfected a plan to use fake INEC staff posing as Technical Staff to temper with the BVAS machine on the day of election to beef up the number of accredited voters on the BVAS machine.”
He therefore demanded that INEC publish the names and pictures of all appointed RTECs for the election and their posting in good time.
“APC knowing that they cannot win the election has resorted to rigging plans which will terribly fail, by the grace of Almighty God,” Aziegbemi added.
Commenting on INEC’s requirement from all participating parties to upload the namedls and photographs of their polling agents, Aziegbemi disclosed that none of the 17 parties was able to meet the requirement 100 percent, PM News Reports.
He however disclosed that the APC could only upload 1,482 polling units in one local government area, instead of agents in the 3,037 polling units.
He therefore said that the APC should not be trusted with governance, if it could not perform such simple task.
“You will recall that INEC had issued a timetable and schedule of activities in Edo State for the governorship election. There are 13 items on that document. I draw your attention to item 9 “submission of names of political agents, to be uploaded on INEC portal.
“INEC created a portal for political parties to upload their agents and access codes were given to the political parties. INEC portal for uploading Polling Agents opened on the 17th of July and automatically shut down on the 30th of July at midnight.
“On the 29th of August, 2024, INEC invited the National Chairmen and National Secretaries for an emergency meeting in Abuja.
“To our amazement, the APC did not meet with the requirement in 3,037 polling units and in 17 local government [areas], which means APC has polling agents in only 1,482 polling units and 1 local government agent.
“PDP uploaded polling agents in 4,378 polling units. A party that cannot upload its polling unit agents in two-thirds of the polling units cannot be trusted with power in our State.
“We demand that no political party be allowed to correct this anomaly,” the PDP chairman said.
Reacting to the allegation, the APC Campaign Council Media Director, Prince Kassim Afegbua, said the PDP is coming up with these allegations to distract attention.
He said: “The PDP has just told the public what they are planning to do, but the bad news is that we are monitoring them bumper to bumper. There is no escape route for Governor Obaseki and his godson, Asue Ighodalo.
“We have told the world before now that Governor Obaseki brought hackers and cloners to Edo, with the aim of ensuring that the BIVAS are tampered with, while also cloning our candidate’s voice.
“Now, they saw that is not working, they now want to device another method. By Monday and Tuesday, they have perfected plans to stage protest across the state asking that their criminal elements should not be arrested.
“Those who were fingered in the killing of Inspector Onu Akor are running away from investigation. They are afraid of facing the consequences of their action, hiding in Edo state Government House for fear of arrest.
“We get details of their meeting everyday. We exposed the voice notes of their so-called Edo Security Network directive to their armed personnel, telling them to hide their guns.
“The game is up for them. Tell them to go and face their campaigns,” Afegbua added.
Recall also that the Party's National Publicity Secretary Hon. Debo Ologunagba in a statement issued on Friday called on INEC to 'resist manipulations by the APC'
Ologunagba charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to firmly resist the plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to smuggle in unaccredited Polling and Collation Agents after the APC failed to meet the deadline stipulated by the Electoral Act, 2022 and INEC Guidelines for the September 21, 2024 Governorship election in Edo State.
" It is already public knowledge as posted on INEC’s Portal that the APC failed to upload its over 3000 Polling and Collation Agents with the required bio-data and cannot be allowed to submit any Polling and Collation Agent after the deadline for submission on July 30, 2024 as doing so would amount to rigging the process.
" It is clear that the APC did not upload the required bio-data of Agents with the sinister aim to cause confusion, smuggle in thugs masquerading as Agents to trigger crisis on election day and pave way for its planned manipulation and disruption of the poll having realized that it has no prospect of winning the election.
" Only this can explain why the APC fraudulently uploaded emojis, pictures of foreigners, social media pictures and non-human photos as Polling and Collation Agents, with the intention to use same as placeholders for thugs imported from certain APC States.
" This further confirms PDP’s position that the APC and its lackluster candidate, Monday Okpebholo have never been prepared for any democratic contest in the Edo State Governorship election but only waiting to manipulate the election against the Will of the people of Edo State.
" Unlike the PDP candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo who has been vigorously campaigning and engaging the people, the APC and its candidate remain completely disconnected from the electorate, the public, the media and resort only to lies, falsehood, propaganda and desperation to manipulate.
" No wonder credible citizens of Edo State, especially the youths spurned offers to serve as Polling and Collation Agents for the APC, given the widespread rejection of the APC and its candidate ahead of the election.
" The PDP therefore calls on INEC and the security agencies to ensure the credibility of the September 21, 2024 Edo State governorship election by resisting the pressure by APC leaders to violate the Electoral Act, 2022 and INEC Guidelines by allowing the APC to smuggle in thugs and unaccredited individuals as Polling Agents.
" Our Party insists that a strict compliance and implementation of the Electoral Act, 2022 and INEC Guidelines remains the assurance for a free, fair, transparent and credible election which is the only guarantee that the Will of the people as expressed in elections will prevail.
" The PDP commends the people of Edo State for their overwhelming support for our Party and Candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo while urging them to remain vigilant and alert in resisting the shenanigans of the APC", he added.
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