It is not true, says electoral bodyTHE Kwara State chapter of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has petitioned Prof. Attahiru Jega over alleged plans by the state's office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to scuttle its election petition on the April 9 Kwara Central senatorial election.Officials of the electoral body have, however, denied the allegation, describing it as unfortunate.The petition, dated September 10, 2011 and addressed to Jega, was jointly signed by the local Chairman of the party, Tunji Buhari and the Public Relations Officer, Alashi Obasanjo. The CPC candidate in the election was Alhaja Bilikisu Tinuola Gambari. The party is challenging the victory of Bukola Saraki of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the said polls.The CPC had filed the petition in which it described the said election as null and void for allegedly not being in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and also that the 3rd Respondent, Saraki was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast in the polls.In the petition to Jega, CPC said: 'We filed a petition on May 1, 2011 and put the processes of the petition in motion while all the three respondents were dragged in, in order to put up their defence.'We expressly gave notice to INEC to produce voters' registers in respect of the polling units in the Kwara Central Senatorial District for the reliance thereon by the petitioners but to our greatest dismay, it was never produced.'When all our efforts to get the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) to attend the tribunal to produce the necessary documents which we needed to substantiate the grounds of our petition failed, we decided to mobilise our arsenal within the confine of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and demanded for Certified True Copy (CTC) of the relevant INEC documents.'But surprisingly, counsel to the INEC wrote us a letter demanding us to deposit the sum of N500, 000 to be paid into the bank account of the commission before it (INEC) could decide on whether or not certification would be possible.'The CPC, therefore, urged Jega to investigate the matter and for once obliterate the alleged erroneous belief that the INEC was a stooge of the ruling party.Reacting to the development, the spokesman of the local INEC, Mr. Jacob Ayanda described the petition by the CPC to Jega as unfortunate and a calculated attempt to blackmail the electoral body.According to Ayanda in an interview with The Guardian in Ilorin, 'the CPC wanted all the ballot papers in the whole of Kwara Central reproduced by us and equally be certified by us. We are talking of 700 and above units within this district. INEC lawyer Dipo Durojaye now placed on the party a sum of N500, 000 to cover the expenses with a promise of a refund if any after the exercise.'The next thing was for the INEC to be subpoenaed. The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) was at a retreat then, but asked his senior staff to represent him at the court. We met all the judges at their chambers and explained our reasons for the cost. The other parties, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) both reproduced their own copies at their own costs.
Click here to read full news..
