The People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has condemned the reported refusal by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Edo State to grant the PDP and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, access to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, machines and other materials used in the September 21, 2024, Edo State governorship election against the order of court.
PDP also accused INEC officials of working with the All-Progressives Congress, APC, to alter the data in the BVAS machines, results sheets, ballot papers and other vital information used in the election in favour of the defeated APC candidate.
Recall that Ighodalo and the PDP had obtained the tribunal court order directing the INEC among other things to hand over the comprehensive list of all the electoral materials available in its custody for the inspection of Ighodalo and the PDP and “the taking of the Certified True Copy thereof.”
Meanwhile, thousands of supporters of APC besieged the Benin City, headquarters of INEC, protesting alleged plot by PDP, candidate, Igholdao to tamper with result sheets and other election materials in the commission’s office ahead of the sitting of the Edo State Election Petition Tribunal.
National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, in a statement, in Abuja, said: “Our party also alerts the public of how compromised INEC officials used the ploy of waiting for ‘directives from above’ to allegedly allow thugs recruited by the APC, and some unscrupulous police operatives to invade the INEC office in Edo State, so as to cause confusion and frustrate the PDP from accessing these sensitive materials.
