The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed a claim by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kogi on the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines for the November 11 governorship election in the state.
However, in a statement posted on its verified X (Twitter) handle on Saturday, the commission described the claim as fake news and urged Nigerians to ignore it.
INEC stressed that the configuration of BVAS was done simultaneously and exclusively in its offices in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi States by teams deployed from the national headquarters in Abuja.
“The attention of the commission has been drawn to a statement signed by I. D. Ijele, Director of New Media of the SDP Governorship campaign team in Kogi State.
“The statement alleged that three staff of INEC are right now maliciously reconfiguring the BVAS machines in the Government House, Lokoja, with the intention of manipulating the forthcoming governorship election in a part of the state in favour of a candidate.
“The story is untrue. The three persons mentioned are not associated with the configuration of the BVAS machines and are not even in Kogi State at the moment. Mr. Nicholas Ocholi is on his duty post in our Ondo State office in Akure.
“Ibrahim Egbunu is attending to a very close family member hospitalised in Abuja. Mohammed Adara retired last year and is no longer a staff of the commission.
“The public is advised to disregard the story as fake news. At the same time, the Commission appeals to political parties to desist from engaging in malicious rumour mongering of this nature,” the statement read.
The SDP had in a statement issued earlier on Saturday alleged that three INEC staff had been engaged by the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, to reconfigure and personalize the BVAS machines ahead of the election.
The party warned that any attempt to manipulate the election in favour of the APC candidate would be firmly resisted by the people of the state.
