The last Saturday governorship election in Kogi State did not come without controversies. Few hours after the declaration of results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), claims of electoral malpractices emanated from the camp of the main opposition party in the state, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.
Honourable Dino Melaye, who spoke on behalf of the party, alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had graduated from the use of security agents to scientific rigging, adding that the result was malicious and did not represent the votes cast in the state.
“No police or security agents in the polling units, at Olamaboro where ACN won; seven wards were cancelled,” he said.
A party agent, Malam Mohammed Suleiman, said the party won the election and alleged that thugs chased away ACN agents in Abaji Local Government Area.
Another damning allegation from ACN claim that PDP collaborated with the security agents and INEC to duplicate result sheets.
The Election Working Group of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) yesterday said there was ballot box snatching during Saturday’s governorship poll in Kogi State. The group, however, described the cases of ballot box snatching as isolated.
“Most Presiding Officers and poll clerks conveyed electoral materials on their heads from the ward distribution centres to the polling units because of lack of mobility.”
“In some of the Polling Units, the Presiding Officers were secretive and refused to disclose the total number of ballot papers issued to them.”
“Some of the Party Agents behaved in a manner inconsistent with the conduct of free, fair and transparent elections. They printed Party Accreditation Tags of different sizes and colours and this made it difficult to distinguish the genuine and fake party agents.”
All over the state, voter bribery was said to have been the order of the day. An indigene who spoke with KogiReports after the elections said, “Kogi State governorship poll was bribed-rigged-manipulated in favour of PDP as there were various reports of incidences of ballot-boxes snatching,votes allocations and huge bribes changing hands”
Due to the kidnap of an INEC ad-hoc official and snatching of ballot boxes, results from seven polling units in Olamaboro Local Government Area were cancelled.
Election did not hold in Unit 09 of Onalo in Ibaji Local Government Area. The Collation Officer, Mr Emmanuel Ejeikwu, said the vehicle conveying INEC officials there broke down on the way.
When they eventually got there by 2.30pm, the people insisted on inspecting the ballot papers before voting, but the Presiding Officer allegedly refused.
Following the disagreement, voters refused to cast their ballots, Ejeikwu said.
As the result from Omala Local Government Area was to be read, the RO interrupted the collation officer, saying the total number of registered voters he announced (47,844) was different from what Amali said he had (51,959).
ACN’s agent, Mohammed Lawal, openly rejected the result from Ajaokuta Local Government Area where PDP scored 10,644 and ACN scored 3,129.
“It is a lie. There were alterations. It shows the incompetence of the Collation Officer there,” he said.
Otunba Dino Melaye accused INEC of conniving with PDP to issue duplicate result sheets, with same serial numbers which were entered in all the local government areas of the state.
He pointed out that the result announced by the electoral umpire was never the true reflection of the wishes of the people of the state, majority of whom he stressed voted for Audu because they wanted a change.
‘‘I floored the director general of Wada’s campaign organisation, Prince Olusola Akanmode and General David Jemibewon in their enclaves. So how did the ruling party win the election in the same place?”
“We want to state in very strong terms that INEC and the PDP before the election had already perfected ways to upturn the figures.
“They already had a separate result sheets, aside the normal result sheets at the polling units and collation centres,” Melaye said.
Melaye, a former PDP member of the House of Representatives, alleged that PDP allowed people to vote without attacking them, but when it got to the collation stage, they swapped the result sheets with the fake ones they had completed.
Melaye said the result vindicated ACN’s alarm that the PDP was conniving with the INEC to manipulate the result. He said his party will pursue justice, until it reclaims its stolen mandate.
