By Emeka Okafor
The senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Delta South senatorial district in Saturday’s National Assembly election, Hon. Thomas Joel-Onowakpo, has called for the cancellation of results in the district over failure of INEC officials to use Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the conduct of the election.
Joel-Onowakpo accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of conniving with officials of the electoral umpire for flagrantly violating and failing to comply with the Electoral Act 2022 by failing to use BVAS in the accreditation of voters during the election.
In a letter on Monday addressed to the Delta State Resident Electoral Commissioner, the APC candidate alleged that the election in the district was marred by electoral malpractice and violation of the process.
The APC candidate specifically demanded for the cancellation of election results in Isoko-North, Burutu, Warri-South, Warri South-West Warri-North and Bomadi Local Government Areas of Delta South Senatorial District.
The letter signed by Joel-Onowakpo’s Clark Ekpebe, Esq., said any election that falls short of section 47(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022 will not be accepted by the party and her candidate.
It read, “Our client is the candidate of the All Progressive Congress in the Delta South Senatorial District Election held on 25th February 2023 and by virtue of that he is in possession of copious evidence of grievous electoral malpractice and malfeasance perpetrated by his opponent in the Peoples Democratic Party in the above listed Local Government Areas in reckless violation of INEC guidelines and the Electoral Act 2022 particularly the provision of section 47(2) of the Act, which provides for compulsory and mandatory use of BVAS for accreditation of all voters before they can vote.
“To clear any doubt, section 47(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022 specifically states that: ‘BVAS shall be the only mode of accreditation for the purpose of the election. All voters are subject to it before they are issued with ballot papers to vote.’
“The binding effect of the above statutory provision is that any number of votes not captured by the BVAS must be rejected, set aside and cancelled by INEC.
“In clear breach of the Electoral Act, the PDP candidate in connivance with some compromised and unscrupulous INEC staff in the above listed Local Government Areas wilfully refused to use the BVAS machines provided by INEC to accredit voters. Instead, the INEC officials in collaboration with the agents of the PDP candidate, chose to thumb print and stuff ballot boxes, and wrote fictitious results hence they held back the results after the election before bringing them to the collation centre.
“Consequently, we are by this petition urging you to use your good office in ensuring that the Electoral Act 2022 is fully complied with by cancelling the cooked-up result from the above listed Local Government Areas, and by so doing you would have forestalled the conflagration likely to arise from a people who may feel cheated by the imposition on them, a candidate they did not vote for.
“Sir, as the saying goes, a stitch in time saves nine. And we respectfully urge you to act.
“Further, we urge you to emblazon your name as an INEC official who does not support rigging and the cooking or manipulation of electoral results at all.”
