By NewsBits
The refusal of the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu to order the relocation of sensitive election materials used in conducting the November 11 governorship election in Kogi State from Lokoja to Abuja, where the election tribunal has been relocated, is generating another controversy.
The safety of the sensitive election materials in Lokoja INEC office has become a source of concern to many of the interested parties following an insider report that soldiers guarding the INEC office in Lokoja would be withdrawn today (Thursday).
There are fears that the INEC office Lokoja could be attacked by the thugs, who earlier laid siege to the premises to deny the legal team of the Social Democratic Party, SDP and other petitioners access for inspection of the election materials.
The Advocate reports that serious concerns were raised by some groups Wednesday night over the alleged refusal of the INEC chairman to direct the movement of the election materials to Abuja following the official relocation of the election tribunal from the Kogi state capital.
The Forum for the Advancement of Development and Democracy, FADD, in a statement issued Wednesday night and signed by its Legal Officer, Oruma Ayuba Musa Esq, expressed shock that “INEC Chairman has refused to direct the movement of sensitive materials for the tribunal to Abuja from the Lokoja INEC office.”
The group alleged that “INEC Chairman seems to be the head of the plot to truncate democracy in Nigeria and set Nigeria aflame by the refusal to report the attack on INEC REC in Kogi State to the Police for investigation several days after the attack, and has also refused to order the removal of sensitive materials been protected by the military at the INEC office on Lokoja so that the thugs of APC can go and destroy the materials or burn down the INEC office after the withdrawal of the military.”
According to FADD, “the body language of the INEC Chairman has become very clear and the citizens mobilisation to picket INEC Headquarters in Abuja will begin immediately.
“The INEC Chairman is not incompetent but demonstrating that INEC determines outcomes of election when the interested parties are able to pay the INEC Chairman and the national commissioners.”
Other concerned citizens who spoke with The Advocate on the development Wednesday night warned that the soldiers deployed to the INEC office should not be withdrawn until the sensitive election materials needed by the election tribunal were moved to Abuja.
“Withdrawing the soldiers after several attempts by armed thugs to burn down the INEC office and the midnight attack on the official residence of the State Resident Electoral Commissioner is like granting the enemies free access to destroy the overwhelming evidence of electoral malpractices witnessed in Kogi on November 11, 2023. This should not be allowed. The lives of INEC workers in Kogi should also be well protected from danger,” a Lokoja resident said.
