INEC Demonstrated Incompetence, Criminality By Postponing Elections –Peter Obi’s Campaign Team
INEC Demonstrated Incompetence, Criminality By Postponing Elections –Peter Obi’s Campaign Team
The Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council (LP PCC) has faulted the postponement of the governorship and State Assembly elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The electoral commission on Wednesday night announced the postponement of elections earlier scheduled to hold on March 11 to March 18, 2023.
The commission in a statement signed by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr. Festus Okoye, stated that the postponement followed the ruling by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (EPT) which granted INEC permission to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used for the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25, 2023.
Okoye stated that the Commission met to assess its impact on its preparations for the governorship and State Assembly elections and established that the elections cannot hold as the ruling came too late for the reconfiguration to be concluded before Saturday.
There was also an ex- parte order for some political parties to inspect materials used for the presidential election, including the forensic inspection of over 176,000 BVAS used in the election which are in INEC LGA offices across the country.
But reacting to the postponement of the elections, a Labour Party PCC spokesperson, Kenneth Okonkwo, described INEC’s decision as a demonstration of “incompetence and criminality”, saying that the commission received N306 billion from the Nigerian government to conduct elections within the scheduled dates but failed to meet up with the schedule.
Okonkwo added that the postponement became inevitable because INEC had not fully uploaded presidential election results to its results viewing portal, IReV and server, 11 days after the election.
The Labour Party PCC spokesperson said, “After collecting 306b naira from the Federal Government to organise elections within schedule, INEC has failed to meet up with the schedule.
“It has demonstrated its incompetence and criminality by postponing the governorship and house of assembly elections to March 18.
“This postponement became inevitable because 11 days after the presidential election, results have not been fully uploaded to BVAS IREV Portal and Server and the contestants have not been allowed access to verify the results. May Mahmood never happen to any country. Shame to INEC!!!
“Our mandate is sacrosanct. God is on our side. We will laugh last by the grace of God. We moovee!!!”
