The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been encouraged by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to postpone the Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) scheduled review of the Kogi governorship election materials on Thursday, November 11, 2023.
Additionally, the party demanded that Gabriel Longpet, the Kogi INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), be removed and subjected to disciplinary action due to his significant compromise by the SDP and its candidate.
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The demands were stated in a statement released in Lokoja on Wednesday by Kingsley Fanwo, the APC campaign council’s spokesperson and director of media and publicity.
The party expressed disapproval at INEC’s willingness to permit the SDP’s legal team to see the election papers, notwithstanding a purported preliminary objection that INEC’s attorneys had previously brought up before the governorship election petition tribunal in Abuja.
The party issued the following statement: “We hereby urge on the Chairman and Management of INEC to cease any inspection of electoral materials used in the Kogi governorship election on November 11, 2023, until the outcome of the Motion on Notice filed by INEC and others to set the Order of inspection aside is determined.
“The REC, Dr. Longpet, should face disciplinary action from INEC as the SDP and its Candidate seriously compromised him.
This is because the REC’s request that INEC representatives show up for the inspection on Thursday, January 4, amounts to an admission of graft on his part and puts a stop to his fraudulent actions in the State.
“It is obvious that REC has misrepresented INEC’s legal interest and integrity. The party requested that the commission suspend or redistribute the REC from Kogi while it awaits the resolution of the disciplinary proceeding against him.
The APC claims that the appeals were necessary as a result of the REC’s overt actions to assist the SDP in compromising, altering, or destroying electoral documents used in the recently concluded Kogi governorship elections on November 11, 2023.
It claimed that on November 25, 2023, the SDP and its candidate, Murtala Ajaka, obtained an Ex-parte Order of the tribunal, which directed INEC to permit an inspection of electoral materials used for the election, among other things, in order to help the SDP and its candidate institute and maintain a petition that had not yet been filed.
“INEC was granted a 48-hour window to adhere to the aforementioned directives, which encompass all forms, registers, result sheets, ballot papers, and BVAS machines.
It is also important to highlight that, despite being named as parties in the aforementioned Order of Court, neither the APC nor Alhaji Usman Ododo, the election winner, have received a copy of the said order for inspection, which was granted on November 25, 2023.
The most crucial aspect is that the petition for which the order of inspection was first requested and granted was filed on December 2, 2023. In that contentious petition, the SDP and its candidate acknowledged in paragraph 92 that INEC had provided them with the order’s documents, which included the Voters Register, BVAS Accreditation Reports, and Result Sheets.
The SDP and its candidate are fully and financially sponsoring an inspection exercise being organised in Abuja by the REC of INEC in Kogi, which is shocking given the background mentioned above. The REC works for a body that has petitioned a court to have the Ex-parte Order for inspection it made set aside.
The APC, for this reason, disapproved of the communications that the aforementioned REC sent out to the impacted INEC employees in Kogi, asking them to come to Abuja on Thursday in order to inspect the election materials.
According to the APC, “the messages clearly demonstrate the desperation of the Kogi Resident Electoral Commissioner, who has been severely compromised by the Social Democratic Party, its Candidate, and their allies.”
In response, Haruna Sule, the head of Voters Education and Publicity (VEP) at Kogi INEC, expressed surprise at the accusations made by the APC, stating that they aligned with the planned examination of the election materials on January 4.
The issue is with the INEC Headquarters in Abuja, not our Kogi office, hence the fraudulent accusations made by the APC are untrue.
“REC is operating in accordance with directives from the headquarters and must not be unfairly implicated,” he stated.
