The Cross River State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party has said that contrary to a court order, the Independent National Electoral Commission of frustrating the inspection of election materials used in the governorship election in the state.
The Secretary of the PDP Special Committee Inspection team, Chris Agbor, disclosed this over the weekend in Calabar.
Agbor said that all attempts made by members of the team to inspect the listed materials have met a brick wall. He accused the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof Gabriel Yomere, and Head of Operations of playing a hide-and-sick game with them.
He said, “The commission has deliberately refused us access to the BVAS used and unused ballot papers, result sheets, ballot paper thumbs and other essential materials.
“The action of the REC is in flagrant disregard of a subsisting order issued by the honourable Election Tribunal and this unwholesome posture is tantamount to contempt of court”
“At this stage we are left with no other option than to report to the court for necessary action to enable us secure unhindered access to the materials. This is an essential process and step in pursuing the matter”
“The action of the commission, especially the Head of Operations, is an indication that there is a foul play somewhere and we shall pursue this inspection of election materials to the end just as we shall not be deterred in any way from pursuing the case to its logical conclusion”, he said.
However, responding to the allegations, INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Cross River State, Prof Gabriel Yomere, claimed that he was not aware of any impediment hindering the PDP team from inspecting the materials.
“I was diagnosed of glaucoma and I am currently in Kano State to see my ophthalmologist for a likely surgery.
“Before I travelled, I handed over to the Administrative Secretary with specific instructions to ensure strict compliance to every Court order.
“PDP is free to access every material used at the elections except the BIVAS. They must apply to our headquarters in Abuja before we can allow them to check”, he said.
THEWILL reports that the Cross River State Governorship Election Tribunal had granted the PDP and its Governorship Candidate Senator Sandy Onor relief to inspect relevant sensitive materials used in the said-elections.
The relief constituted one of the prayers sought for by the plaintiff in the Petition No:EPT/CR/GOV/03M/2023 dated April 4,2023 duly filed by Sen. Sandy Onor, the PDP governorship candidate, before the four man Tribunal led by Justice M.L.Omar.
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
