By Abubakar Yunusa
Governor of Adamawa, Ahmadu Fintiri, has alleged that agents of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Edo governorship election were denied access to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office ahead of the commencement of collation on Saturday.
The governor, however, said agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were allowed “unfettered access to the INEC premises to participate in the collation process”.
Fintiri, who is chairman of the Edo PDP campaign council, spoke at a press conference in Benin, on Sunday.
He alleged that the collation was violently interrupted in some LGAs.
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According to him, “In Edo South, local government collation processes were stopped in Oredo, Ikpoba-Okha, and Egor and moved illegally to the State Headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Benin on the instructions of an Assistant Inspector General (AIG), in complete breach of the statutory collation process
“Affected party agents and representatives were then ordered to converge on the INEC State Headquarters in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area for the completion of the collation exercise.
“Upon arrival, agents of the PDP were not allowed into the INEC State Office for the exercise. On the other hand, agents of the APC were allowed unfettered access into the INEC premises to participate in the collation process. This was also in breach of the Electoral Act section on neutrality, as well as the rules and regulations published for these elections.”
The Adamawa governor added that at about 9pm, “senior officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC), accompanied by the police, stormed the Etsako West LGA collation centre and began shooting indiscriminately”.
“As a result of the attack, the council vice chairman was left in a critical condition from a shooting injury. Because of this assault, the expected results from Wards 7 and 11 were not delivered.
“At the INEC state office, a 2km barricade was created by the police to cordon off access, thereby restricting movement in the area”, he said.
Fintiri reeled out some local government results, emphasising that his announcement did not override the electoral umpire’s authority.
He added that the figures were those received from party agents.
“I did not announce results, I only informed the public of the exact figures from our collation agents that was ongoing before INEC disrupted the process… INEC should be accused of violating the Electoral Act, not me,” Fintiri said.
He said, “It took the protest of Governor Obaseki, who made an entry to the state INEC office and registered the displeasure of the PDP with the irregularities of the collation process, for things to move forward.
“We thereby demand a restoration of the collation process in accordance with the Electoral Act and the INEC rules and regulations for this election.
“Any other illegal and unlawful action going forward will be a violation of the will of the people and abuse of the Electoral Act.”