The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State has announced that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) agreed to postpone the inspection of election materials until Thursday, allowing the party additional time to prepare.
APC Edo State chairman, Jarret Tenebe, along with the party’s legal representative, Victor Ohiosumwan, informed journalists that they were not equipped with all necessary materials due to a mix-up in the inspection process.
Tenebe explained, “They are supposed to start with inspection of register and we were not aware of it. INEC had already given us register which we were supposed to compare with the register INEC will bring because there are a lot of suspicions here and there because of the fact that I raised earlier with you guys about the BVAS that was loaded from the government house to this place and registers were also included.
“And the reason why register is an issue, you guys are aware that the case between PDP and PDP that is still in the Supreme Court has to do with the candidate of the PDP not being registered in Edo and the register INEC gave us before the election.”
He highlighted that the APC aims to scrutinise the provided register closely, especially as it lacks some key names, like Asue Ighodalo
“We thoroughly looked at it and it does not have Asue Ighodalo. So, that is the reason why we want to look at the register they want to give to us critically to ensure that we are not inspecting fake register; that is the issue on ground now. So, the meeting is adjourned till tomorrow,” Tenebe added.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legal team, who also attended the meeting at INEC headquarters in Benin City, chose not to speak to the press.
In response to allegations by the PDP, Edo State INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Anubgum Onuoha, denied claims that he obstructed access to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for inspection prior to the recent gubernatorial elections.
In a statement, he labelled the allegations as “baseless and misleading.”
Onuoha stated that he never restricted any party or representatives from accessing the BVAS for inspection ahead of court cases. He invited all parties, including the PDP, to inspect the BVAS system on Wednesday.