Adamawa ACN Accuses INEC Officials Of Frustrating Inspection Of Ballot Papers

THE legal battle between Governor Murtala Nyako,of Adamawa state and Engineer Markus Gundiri of he Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) who ischallenging the declaration of Nyako as the winner of the February 4, 2012 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has taken another dimension as the counsel to ACN, Charles Edosomwan (SAN), petitioned the Chief Judge of Nigeria and INEC Chairman, accusing the commission's officers in Adamawa of frustrating the inspection exercise as directed by the election petitions tribunal.In a four-page petition, Edosomwan accused INEC of conniving with the representatives of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), one the the defendants in the case to ensure that the ballot paper inspection exercise ordered by the tribunal was truncated.The petition reads in part: 'This is to petition your exalted offices about the conspiratorial activities of the officers of INEC in Adamawa to deliberately frustrate the inspection exercise ordered at the instance of the petitioners by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Yola, Adamawa state.'It is utterly disgusting to note that officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission who are supposed to be unbiased umpires in electoral disputes have deliberately connived with the representatives of the Peoples Democratic Party, one of the respondents in our petition, to ensure that ballot paper inspection exercise ordered by the Tribunal would be truncated. One Y.D Dangana, an INEC external counsel, in league with the INEC legal officer, one Amina M. Bappa, has been calling the shots on the manner the inspection exercise should take while taking direct instructions from PDP elements around.'The petition noted that this was the second time,INEC officers in Adamawa will be frustrating the inspection exercise.'It must be placed on record that the same set of officers were the ones who frustrated the exercise the previous weeks by refusing to issue ballot papers to our team of inspectors to scan and inspect in order to cover up all the atrocities perpetrated by PDP during the 4th February, 2012 governorship election.'While the inspection order was granted by the Tribunal on the 30th March, 2012, these officers did not allow the inspection to start until the 11th day of April, 2012 and on the 14th April, 2012, they announced that the inspection order granted by the Tribunal had lapsed as computation of time must start from the 1st day of April, 2012 when they were the ones who deliberately prevented the exercise from commencing until the 11th day of April 2012'.
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