Newscenter Media News The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have disagreed over the modalities and timing for the inspection of election materials used for the September 21 governorship election in Edo State.
The state governorship election petition tribunal had ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to release all electoral materials used in the election to the PDP and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, for inspection.
The commission had earlier told political parties to inspect the material on Wednesday.
However, the inspection did not commence as planned due to an objection raised by the APC which argued that the voters’ register should be inspected first, before the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.
The APC also argued that since they were served with the schedule only a few minutes before the inspection, they did not bring their copy of the voters’ register.
INEC, therefore, postponed the inspection till Thursday.
However, further complications arose on Thursday when the APC Chairman in the state, Jarrett Tenebe, alleged that BVAS machines and voters’ registers had been brought into the INEC office using vehicles from the Government House.
Tenebe insisted that his party’s petition should be addressed before the materials inspection could commence.
The argument was sternly rejected by representatives of the PDP, who insisted on the immediate commencement of the inspection.
The PDP maintained that the APC’s petition could not supersede a valid court order and called for the inspection to begin.
Due to the APC and PDP disagreement on the next steps, INEC adjourned the materials inspection indefinitely (sine die).
Speaking to journalists after the adjournment, the APC Counsel, Barr. Victor Ohionsumua, said the party would only return for the inspection once their petition had been addressed.
Ohionsumua said the APC submitted a petition to the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Anugbum Onuoha, the Commissioner of Police, and the Department of State Services (DSS) on October 10.
He said: “We (APC) observed that BVAS machines and voters’ registers entered INEC a few days ago in Edo State government vehicles.
“Based on this, we objected that the petition must be resolved before we can proceed with the materials’ inspection.
“The INEC legal officer wanted to proceed with the inspection without directives from Dr Onuoha.
“We insisted that we must hear from the REC and that our petition must be addressed before we move forward.
“During this process, the INEC office became rowdy, and we began hearing gunshots outside the commission.
“For security reasons, the INEC Director of Operations decided to postpone the inspection sine die and asked us to return to INEC on October 11.
Reacting to the situation, the factional Chairman of the Labour Party in Edo, Comrade Kelly Ogbaloi, said the atmosphere at INEC’s head office was not conducive for the inspection to proceed.
“The experience here is chaotic and not the right environment for such an important exercise to take place.
“In my view, a level playing field should be provided for those contesting the outcome of the election.
“As it stands, there is total disagreement between the APC and the PDP, and I do not believe any inspection will happen today,” he stated.
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