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…. Says suspension of campaign can lead to voter apathy
OBIORA IFOH, Abuja
National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomohle has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to redeploy some Resident Electoral Commissioners, REC and some Electoral Officers EOs who are suspected to have compromised their positions in the last weekend suspended election.
The APC National Chairman who spoke at the party’s national caucus meeting in Abuja on Monday also said that INEC erred in asking political parties not to resume campaigns after the one week suspension of polls arguing that freezing of campaign can led to voter apathy.
According to him, “those INEC RECs that have been compromised, we will press on INEC’s leadership that they do not have a right to impose a corrupt or compromised INEC RECs or EOs on us. When sufficient doubts have been raised on the characters, the integrity of a referee, no responsible match authority will impose that referees on the players. We don’t care where anybody is posted to because INEC has discretion to move people around.”
Oshiomhole said the National Caucus meeting was convened to give their members hope and renew their commitment to democracy and to free and fair elections.
He said, “we must now go back to the additional cost that it will entail to renew campaigns and again INEC’s own decisions to attempt to amend the law through mere administrative pronouncement namely to the effect that our campaigns are frozen, Mr. President, INEC is not in the position to make laws.
“The laws made by our parliament are superior to the opinions of INEC Chairman (With all due respect to his office). The extant provision of the law is clear. When you postpone elections, it had happened before; the law says you are entitled to renew campaigns up to 24 hours before the date of the elections. It did not say you would stop campaigns on the 15th of February regardless of when the elections will actually take place.
“When elections stop, it determines by when it is expected to commence. Therefore, as a law-abiding party, we will proceed to energise our members to renew campaigns and to urge them to come out en masse.
“And voters turnout and voter apathy can result to the confusion. If at our level, we are subsistently disturbed, what will be the fate of ordinary man? I think we need to remind them across the country that elections have been rescheduled, by telling them to have trust, they should have faith, they should all determine to vote. The process of doing that will require returning the campaigns between now and Thursday.
“To ask us as a political party not to go out, remember our people might have forgotten, they would have assumed that are sure these people know what they want? And result could be very very low turnout. That is not good for a party that has huge support base. It can only be good for a party that is not sure of its level of grassroots support. So, without consulting INEC, we are proceeding and we are ready to meet them in court because they cannot by administrative fiat amend or distort extant provisions in electoral Act and those laws are not secret to INEC.
“Just to say that INEC chairman briefed us on some of the things they need to do day by day until Saturday when elections will take place. My people say if a man or woman has been caught on adultery and he or she says I won’t do it again, it has to be weighty and see. You can no longer assuming. INEC, having violated our confidence, they now must earn it or re-earn it and sustain it every the same way.
“So, we are going to write INEC to demand a small meeting not to be meeting of more than 1000 people in a conference hall, face-to-face to speak to specific details.
“One, we have been told that they would re-configure card readers and we were told that they were like about 180,000 and there are two issues. Namely: INEC, have you started? When will you finish this configuration? If they are 180,000, it means the extra is only 4,000 since we have 176,000 polling booths. Is INEC assurance that from their own projections and past experience across the country that the failure made of card readers is only 1 or 2 per cent? What is the basis for only making allowance for only 4,000? Is this based on past experience?
“Mr. President, why we need concrete answers to all these questions is that, in the absence of incident forms, should there be more failing over and above 4,000, what is INEC’s contingency plan to deal with that? We don’t want staggered elections. We want nationwide elections, same time, same day all over the country. So, INEC needs to brief the basis of this small addition.
“All have i fought for is that, every card reader should have a spare. So, if we 176,000 polling units, we want to have 176,000 spares. So, whenever one fails, the other one can be used. What they have done creates rooms for suspicion.
“Many have said they might do it in the areas they feel we are strong because we are responsible for the discretion on where to deploy these devices.
“Mr. President, from what we have all known, in some states, INEC materials have been distributed. Some people have sighted some of the result sheets. Some have sighted some of the ballot papers before they ordered them to stop. Now my question, having started a copy or a sample of the ballot papers and of the result sheets, what is INEC doing differently to ensure that those who have already seen those samples will not go to “Amadi layout” to go and try to print a sample of the one they have seen.
“Lastly, the Ibos say that hurry hurry tears trousers. Now, this hurried efforts INEC has promised to make to ensure that everything is done, are they assuring us that some of the things that happened last Friday that have taken care?
“For example, the voting materials meant for Edo State were delivered to Enugu State. The one meant for Delta State, were delivered to Edo State. This is not a weather issue, it is not… I don’t know how to explain that. This mix up is not about not being able to lift materials. It is about lifting materials to wrong areas.
“Having vindictive of election rigging, we know that one of the things INEC had done before was to deliberately carry one voter register from one local government to another. By the time you track it, you would have lost precious time to election. These are several questions begging for answers.
“And because of the way the interaction was conducted, once you make your comment, INEC makes it comment, the case is closed, even if the comments raise more questions. So, we request for more meetings and we need more assurances.
“To my dear comrades, we must not allow this last minute shock to demoralise our members. We must lead with them and I’m happy Mr President, his first reaction was to apologize to those who were coming out to vote for us who were travelled far and near to be able to vote. They have incurred cost and we are not in the position to refund those costs.”
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