The All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked INEC to urgently
circulate to all political parties the Voters Identification Numbers
(VINs) of all unclaimed Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) and publicly
declare that anyone in possession of any PVC with any of such numbers
is an impostor who must be arrested if he or she tries to use it.
In a communique issued after the emergency meeting of its National
Executive Committee (NEC) in Osogbo on Wednesday, the party said in
addition to circulating the VINs of the unclaimed PVCs, INEC must
publicly declare invalid for the purpose of the August 9, Osun
governorship election all the PVCs with the circulated VINs.
It said the circulation of the VINs of the unclaimed PVCs and the
INEC’s declaration as invalid of all PVCs bearing the VINs for the
Saturday election is the irreducible minimal condition for the Aug.
9th Governorship Election to be free, fair, credible and transparent.
APC strongly warns against the plan by the PDP-led Federal Government
to rig the Osun election through financial inducements and also by
using the security agents who have been deployed to Osun State in
their thousands, especially soldiers and State Security Service (SSS)
officials, to arrest key leaders of the party.
”The party has received information that at a meeting held overnight
in Osogbo involving top officials of the PDP and the Federal
Government as well as INEC officials, a huge sum of money was
earmarked for payment to key electoral officials to rig Saturday’s
election in favour of the PDP.
”At the same meeting it was resolved that APC leaders like Senator
Jide Omoworare, Hon. Rotimi Makinde and others will immediately be put
under house arrest and their movements severely restricted as soon as
they cast their votes. Any arrest, harassment and intimidation of our
leaders, as was massively done in Ekiti, will be totally unacceptable
and deemed as orchestrated to rig the election,” the party said.
It also said that based on credible information, the rural farm
settlements around Ile-Ife and Ilesha, among others, have been
identified as areas where the 500,000 cloned cards and other PVCs
illegally obtained will be used mostly on Saturday.
APC condemns the rumored plan by the security not to allow party
agents within 5 metres of the polling booths to be used for Saturday’s
election, calling it a ploy to make it impossible for all accredited
agents to perform their statutory duty of verifying the identity of
those coming to be accredited to vote.
”Accreditation is the bedrock of a free and fair election and once
the security, whether military or otherwise, succeeds in preventing
accredited party agents from performing their statutory role, then the
basis for a free and fair election is gone. The only reason why the
military will not allow party agents to do their work is to aid those
who are not authorized to vote to do so. This is the only way 500,000
unclaimed PVCs and others illegally obtained can be used to rig the
elections.
”We are therefore calling on INEC to prevail on the security agencies
to allow the party agents to do their work unhindered on Saturday. We
also want to remind INEC to note that soldiers, by law, have no
business at polling booths, not to talk of the irony of the same
soldiers now preventing party agents from discharging their statutory
roles
”Even more brazen and bizarre is the information reaching us that the
majority of the 500,000 PVCs and others illegally obtained may have
been given to uniformed men, both official and unofficial, who in the
absence of prying eyes will cast multiple votes and rig the election
in favour of the PDP.
”We also have very credible information that when all fails
directives might be given to the EOs to allow anyone with a Permanent
voters card to cast his or her vote even when their names are not on
the voters register. These are frightening and sinister scenarios
which we want INEC to take note of and prevent from happening,” the
party said.
It condemned the glaring partisanship of the security agencies that
have been deployed to Osun for the election, against the background
that the Department of State Service (DSS)today prevented the
solidarity rally of the NLC in support of Gov. Aregbesola at the
Freedom Park Osogbo from taking place on the grounds that there is a
division within the NLC!
”Also, we are uncomfortable with the tale being peddled to the rank
and file of the police in Osun state that the acting IGP has directed
that Osun election must be won by the PDP as a condition for his
confirmation.
” The APC is aware of the desperation of the PDP to win Saturday’s
election at all cost, even when everything, including an opinion poll
carried out by a globally-acknowledged firm, RMS-TNS, points to the
fact that the APC candidate, Gov. Rauf Aregbesola, is the runaway
leader among all the candidates for the election.
”Our party especially notes the circulation of the result of an
opinion poll purportedly carried out by USAID showing the PDP
candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore, as the leading candidate.
Thankfully, USAID has publicly dissociated itself from such poll,
saying it never carried out any opinion poll on Osun State. There is
no clearer evidence of desperation than this.
”We must however not fail to warn that Osun Election will determine
the fate of democracy in Nigeria, and therefore call on all
stakeholders to provide a level playing field for all ” APC said.