Election
#KogiDecides2023: SDP candidate raises alarm over malpractices
Mr Muritala Ajaka, the Social Democratic Party candidate in the present governorship election in Kogi State, has claimed that the results sheets in collation centres in the state’s Ogori Magongo region are missing.
Muritala stated in a statement issued through his media assistant, Mr Faruk Adejoh-Audu, said the occurrence was evidence of electoral misconduct in the current election.
He said that his agents in various sections of the state alerted him of suspected electoral malpractices throughout the election.
Ajaka said, “Our agents who went to a few ward collation centres in the early hours of this morning to inspect materials before accepting to take them to polling units discovered that no result sheets were available for any of the units or ward collation centres.
“In Olamaboro Ward 5 where agents of all parties escorted the supervisory presiding officers, presiding officers, and other INEC staff with security to the ward headquarters in Inele-Ugo last night, they went back to commence deployment of the materials to the polling units this morning and discovered that the entire INEC staff, materials and the security personnel have all disappeared from the Roman Catholic Mission Primary School where they left them.”
The candidate also alleged that an All Progressives Congress Council Chairman was caught by security agents, with thugs ferrying large amounts of cash in the early hours of Saturday and paraded by the security agents but was later freed.
“These developments signpost reports of outrageous malpractices and manipulations that are already emerging from several areas across the state.
“Our situation room is also inundated with reports of INEC I.T staff and some ward collation officers camped in three Lokoja hotels overnight to manipulate BVAS machines and pre-fill result sheets of Lokoja, Ajaokuta and Kogi LGAs.
“There are reports of thugs riding on motorbikes to evade the checkpoints of soldiers to attack remote polling units in Dekina, Ofu, Olamaboro, Bassa, and Ankpa LGA.
“We are immediately drawing the attention of the INEC National Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Returning Officer for Kogi State, Election observers, local and international, and heads of security agencies to these outrageous electoral breeches and demanding that the commission keeps to its vow to reject results from areas that have been compromised by violence, malpractice, or manipulations,” he stated.
