•It’s a lie — INEC

By Ademola Adegbite

THE All Progressives Congress, APC, in Oyo State, yesterday, alleged that it has uncovered plans by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to change the location of some polling units with a view to frustrating voters in the state on the days of elections.

The APC, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, said the party was in possession of an intelligence report which revealed how Governor Seyi Makinde has been able to compromise some alleged bad eggs within the INEC to assist in relocating some polling units in the state to locations which may be inaccessible, hard to reach or even non-existent, on poll days.

The statement reads: “Makinde, already getting the signals pointing to his inevitable electoral doom, has issued a standing instruction to some bad eggs within the Oyo State office of INEC, to immediately relocate several polling units across the state, from their advertised addresses to unknown or obscure locations.

“A run-through of the affected units revealed clearly the devil behind the detail; they are units considered strongholds of our party, which given the pervasive atmosphere of free and fair  elections in Nigeria, our party is expected to win hands down, without fuss.”

“Not only would this plot cause voters incalculable stress on election day, as many will be hearing of such for the first time on poll day, many will become disenchanted once they are unable to locate the new polling units. This will then drop the idea of participating in the voting exercise and thus reducing the chances of electoral victory of the preferred candidate.

“By this notice, we alert the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Zonal Electoral Commissioner, the Resident Electoral Commissioner and all electoral stakeholders to beam the commission’s searchlight on the activities of INEC staff, especially those in the Oyo State office, so that they do not allow some bad eggs tarnish the commission’s hard-earned reputation nor put to disrepute, its concerted efforts at organising credible polls.”

It’s a lie- INEC

But in a swift reaction, the INEC debunked the allegation, challenging the APC to mention such polling units.

INEC’s Public Affairs Officer, Olayiwola Awolowo, who spoke to Vanguard said: “Let the APC substantiate its argument by mentioning the names of such polling units. It is a lie. There is nothing like that.”