A protest is taking place at the Owerri Municipal Council’s Ikenegbu Girls Polling Unit because the polling unit officers who were previously trained to use the BVAS have been replaced.
The party claimed that this was an attempt by the electoral umpire to rig the results in favor of the APC, which sparked a furor over the issue.
One potential voter, Mr. Madu, identified himself as a member of the Labour Party and expressed surprise at the Pu personnel’s move this morning who had already been sent to the voting center.
When contacted, Chibuikem Diala, the spokeswoman for the Labour Party’s candidate for governor of the state, said that INEC was acting uniformly throughout the state.
According to him, the campaign organization learned that individuals who had not received INEC training were being used to run the election, and that the legitimate PU officers who had already received training from INEC had been abruptly withdrawn.
He said, “The Senator Athan Achonu Media Centre wishes to alert security agents and patriotic INEC staff, especially those sent from outside Owerri for this election, about plans already concluded to compromise the BVAs for use for today’s election by the RATECH team.
“A reliable intel from some LGAs in Owerri Federal Constituency has uncovered plans by the technical team in those LGAs discussing issuing wrong passwords to some of the ad hoc staff for this election.
“Specifically, this devious plan was being discussed at the Owerri Municipal and Owerri North Local Government Areas where the Head of the RATECH team has concluded plans to issue wrong passwords to PO, especially those posted to polling units with large voters. According to the source, the instruction is to ensure that some of the BVAS malfunction at the Polling Units.
“The purpose is to either generate a fake result or frustrate the voting process in specific areas where the riggers do not have a strong presence. This is shameful and devilish.
“All party agents in every booth and ward, as well as voters, should hold the ‘RATHEC Team responsible, not the POs, wherever BVAs password is wrong because it has been compromised. We also urge all POs to escalate this criminality wherever it is found.
“The agents and indeed all Imo Voters must resist this and insist that the proper thing is done.
“We vehemently condemn this evil plot and call on the INEC Commissioners we have been told were seconded to the state to ensure a free, fair, and smooth exercise to forestall this, as the opposition parties can never accept it.
“We request that the head of the RATECH team in Owerri Federal Constituency and indeed all other LGAs should be cautioned before they discredit a process that is meant to yield positive outcomes.
“We also charge security operatives to ensure that compromised INEC staff do not create a crisis during this electoral exercise.”
