The Labour Party, on Thursday, knocked the Independent
National Electoral Commission, saying the electoral umpire deliberately came up
with its idea of reconfiguring the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines
after its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, sought to examine the election
materials.
This was as the party faulted the commission’s claim of
backing up the data retrieved from the BVAS without the presence of independent
witnesses and representatives of political parties.
The protest is coming barely 24 hours after INEC rescheduled
the planned governorship and states House of Assembly elections earlier slated
for March 11 in order to reconfigure the BVAS machines.
The move was made possible after the Presidential Election Petition Court sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja granted the commission’s request to reconfigure the BVAS that were used for the presidential poll.
The court had, in a unanimous decision by a three-member
panel of Justices, dismissed objection by the LP and held that preventing the
electoral umpire from reconfiguring the BVAS would adversely affect the
forthcoming governorship and state Assembly elections.
But the Chief Spokesman for the Obi-Datti Presidential
Campaign Council, Yunusa Tanko, reiterated that it was wrong of INEC to claim
that it had backed up the data from the BVAS without any witness.
Tanko further accused the electoral umpire of constantly
changing its rule of engagement to cover up some of the anomalies they earlier
observed.
He said, “Are we privy or invited to see what was being
backed up? If there is going to be transparency, what INEC needs to do is to
invite everybody with their technological experts to see what the commission
intends to back up from the original source. Was this done?
“We didn’t want to use that as evidence in the court of law.
INEC should not forget that we also have our own results. Anything
contradictory to that particular result and what they backed up will be totally
unacceptable to us.
“It is clear right from the beginning that INEC deliberately
went to court for reconfiguration of the BVAS machines after Obi requested to
inspect election materials. Of course, nobody, not even you and I, know the
commission can come up with anything like reconfiguration at this time. This
was done after we demanded to inspect those machines.
“When you are going into an arrangement, it is always
important to tell people about the rule of engagement and ensure you don’t
change it. But INEC keeps on changing the rule of engagement in order to cover
their shady deals. It is unfortunate that we have to bring INEC down to this
particular level.”
While stating that they had lost confidence in the capacity
of the commission to hold a free and fair election, the LP campaign spokesman
noted that Obi was consulting with his lawyers
to determine whether or not to appeal the court ruling on BVAS
reconfiguration.
Tanko also warned the electoral body to endeavour to raise
its standard and seek to do the right thing to avoid incurring the wrath of the
masses.
Similarly, the Peoples Democratic Party expressed strong
reservations about INEC’s capacity to conduct the unpcoming governorship and
Houses of Assembly polls in a free, fair, and transparent manner.
Speaking with The PUNCH, the National Publicity of the PDP,
Debo Ologunagba, said the commission’s
conduct in the past two weeks had made most Nigerians to doubt its
sincerity.
He said, “The governorship and Assembly polls were to hold
on March 11, according to INEC, knowing full well that they could not do
it. Now, they have moved it to March 18.
Why can’t they allow the parties who had got a court order to get that
information from BVAS so that they can be sure of their integrity? Given the
behaviour of INEC in recent weeks, how can we be sure that they can even
conduct acceptable polls this time?
“This is about the integrity and believability of INEC. What
is the average Nigerian saying about INEC today? From the behaviour and
activities of INEC, during and after the election, it was clear they were not
ready to walk their own talk.”
On assurances by the commission that data from BVAS would be
secured in a back-end and cloud, and made accessible to the PDP at any time,
Ologunagba said, “This election is technologically driven but today, INEC is on
its own, deliberately sabotaging a process it promised the whole world it would
sanitise.
“On Google, you would realise that there is possibility of
losing data when saved in the cloud. There is the risk of losing data. So, if
there is a risk of losing data, why is INEC not worried like the rest of us?
How are we sure that this data will be preserved? This is the question we want
INEC to answer.”
But reacting, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC
Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, said the data
back-up of the BVAS was an internal affair of the commission and not open to
inspection by parties.
“The reconfiguration or data back-processes of the Bimodal
Voter Accreditation System machines is strictly an internal affair of the Independent
National Electoral Commission, that no external eyes are allowed to witness.
“Of course, political parties are free to witness a test-run
of the BVAS, and they did during the mock accreditation exercise that we
carried out before the general elections.
“However, it is really, really curious that the Labour Party
would express any desire to witness such an activity. What exactly do they want
to see? Would the party also want to witness when ballot papers and result
sheets are designed and printed?
“It is like students demanding to be present when their
teachers are determining examination questions. While the commission
appreciates and maintains a very cordial relationship with the Inter-Party
Advisory Council, the boundaries are well defined and known to both parties,”
Oyekanmi said.
Asked when INEC will complete the BVAS reset and storage of
data in the back-up, Oyekanmi said “about three days.”
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