10th April, 2015
Lagos APC says it has been informed that PDP plans to massively rig the governorship elections in the riverine areas of the state using gunboats, police, navy and other security personnel.
According to the partys’s State Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, “A meeting was held in Senator Obanikoro’s house in Ikoyi- Obalende where plans were perfected to achieve their ulterior motives. We are in the know of how PDP used this method to rig the March 28 presidential elections but this time PPD will fail miserably and woefully too.
“PDP succeeded in March 28 to rob Lagos of its well deserved votes but their criminal plans to resort to open stealing of votes tomorrow will fail in Lagos. We are therefore alerting all Party leaders in the affected areas to be smart , vigilant and be on guard to stop the invaders and vote robbers.
“What we are witnessing now is the last kicks of a dying horse but we will stop PDP’s inordinate and criminal ambition in Lagos whatever it will cost us. The former big house of PDP throughout Nigeria is collapsing like a pack of cards and their last ugly show will be nailed in Lagos tomorrow.
“All our party agents must stand up now to stop the multiple voting we recorded in IKORODU and the riverine areas of Lagos on March 28 2015. We must use all the energies at our disposal to stop PDP’s desperation in Lagos.
Meanwhile, the Independent National National Electoral Commission, INEC, heads of different arms of the Nigerian security agencies and all relevant stakeholders are putting finishing touches to preparations aimed at ensuring that some of lapses that nearly marred the 28 March presidential and National Assembly elections will be taken care of at the gubernatorial and houses of assembly elections that will hold across the country on Saturday.
While gubernatorial elections will be held in 29 states, the Houses of Assembly election will take place in all the 36 States of the federation, except in the Federal Capital Territory.
While the different political parties have been accusing each other of plans to rig the elections across the states, INEC has insisted that it is ready to make the elections better than the ones it conducted about two weeks ago.
Professor Attahiru Jega, the Chairman of INEC has assured that lapses that were noticed in the 28 March elections like the logistic challenges manifested in late opening of polling booths, insufficient result sheets and failure of card readers will be taken care of to ensure they did not rear their heads tomorrow.
P.M.NEWS gathered that state offices of INEC have since Tursday began the process of deployment of electoral materials to the local governments from where they will be distributed to the wards.
And contrary to the call by some politicians, INEC said Thursday that only voters will permanent voter’s card will be allowed to vote in the gubernatorial polls.
Kayode Idowu, spokesperson for INEC Chairman said in a statement while disowning what he described as “ false assurances” by an unnamed governor and some political leaders who have been asking their supporters to disregard their PVCs and Smart Card Readers (SCRs) for Saturday’s elections.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has received reports that some political leaders are asking members of the public to disregard its stated resolve to use Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and Smart Card Readers (SCRs) for the April 11, 2015 Governorship and State Assembly elections.
“A particular state governor in the North Central geo-political zone is reported to have assured voters in the state that they could come out to vote on Election Day with Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs) if they do not have the PVC, and that INEC will not be allowed to insist on the use of SCRs for voter accreditation.
“Members of the public are strongly advised to disregard false assurances that contradict the regulations INEC has outlined for the Governorship and State Assembly elections. The Commission reaffirms that only voters with genuine PVCs should come out to the polling units on Election Day, and that guidelines issued on the use of SCRs for the April 11 elections will be strictly applied.
“Any action infringing these guidelines will be an electoral offence, and security agents will be on hand to apprehend offenders,” Idowu said.
The Commission also warned that any obstruction to the processes it has put in place for the elections by any person, no matter how highly placed, will constitute an electoral offence punishable in law.
INEC had earlier in the week said it will stick to the use of the card readers in line with its guidelines for the 2015 elections against the calls by some politicians that the device should be discarded because of the failure recorded in its use during the 28, March polls.
The Commission which noted that some of the failures of the device was due to either lack of adequate training of its electoral officers or deliberate sabotage by interested politicians said it has introduced measures that will take care of observed lapses to ensure that such problems did not come up tomorrow.
On the security angle, the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba yesterday deployed six Deputy Inspector-General of Police to coordinate Police activities in the six geo-political zones, according to a statement from Emmanuel Ojukwu, the Force Public Relations Officer. In addition, some Commissioners of Police were also deployed for election duties to states to Anambra, Ekiti ;Enugu, CP Adamu Mohammed and Osun States.