Allegations of
fraud in the elections conducted in Cross River State are pouring into
the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in
Calabar. Aggrieved candidates of the defeated parties are calling for
their outright cancellation.
Notable among the
petitioners are Eyo Etim Nyong, Joseph Etene and Cletus Obun of the
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Victor Okon of the All Nigeria
Peoples Party (ANPP), and Victor Etim of the Labour Party (LP). They
have vowed to take the winning Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the
election tribunal once it is constituted.
In last Tuesday’s
house of assembly election in the state and the rescheduled senatorial
election in Cross River South and Central senatorial districts, the
opposition alleged that there was a high level of rigging and buying of
votes.
They claimed that
in Odukpani, Calabar Municipality and Calabar South local government
areas officials and agents of the PDP were on hand to buy ballot boxes
from electoral officers with the connivance of INEC ad hoc staff. Such
boxes were allegedly taken away and later returned stuffed to the
polling units.
In areas where
cubicles were not used to shield voters, in line with the modified open
ballot system of voting, the petitioners claimed that some PDP agents
mounted guard at polling units to direct voters to vote for their party
against their wish. More PDP officials were allegedly on standby to
monitor where each voter thumb-printed. “If the total votes in a unit
did not favour the PDP, something was done to hike the votes in its
favour,” they further claimed.
According to the
opposition, at some polling units ballot papers were given out to party
agents based on an alleged agreement between the PDP agents and staff
of INEC, in collaboration with the police.
In instances where
the parties agreed on terms, the agents allegedly doled out money to
bribe INEC ad hoc staff and security operatives to enable them stuff
ballot boxes outside voting hours.
An official of the
Labour Party who was also its candidate for the house of assembly
election in the area, Victor Etim, alleged that the elections in
Odukpani were fraught with irregularities. He claimed that the figures
at the final collation points were doctored.
“What was announced
as the final result by INEC is not what transpired on the field. They
are different results altogether. The figures released by the electoral
body are higher than those recorded in the various polling units and
collation centres,” he said.
Mr Etim described
the outcome of the polls in Odukpani as “ridiculous and unacceptable,”
stating that it showed “a clear case of manipulation by the ruling
party.” He vowed to challenge the outcome in court.
In his reaction to the allegations levelled against his party, the
state chairperson of the PDP, Ekpo Okon, said: “It has become
traditional for the opposition to complain of rigging after elections.
We are ready for them at the election tribunal. The elections were free
and fair.”
