APC boycotts Delta LG poll, accuses state electoral body of cheating

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta says it has pulled out of the LGA elections in the state.

Sylvester Imomina, the APC publicity secretary in the state, said this in a statement in Asaba on Saturday.

Imonina said the party boycotted the election because the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC), and other stakeholders “cheated the Delta people again”.

“I told the people of Delta some days ago that there were evil machinations to deprive them of their right to choose who to lead them at the local government level,” the statement read.

“Yesterday, March 5, 2021 at DSIEC headquarters in Asaba, Delta APC representatives were not allowed to take statistics of the materials that it intended transporting to the different LGAs in the state.

“This is despite the insistence of the party’s representatives that it is the right of political parties to inspect and confirm what and where the materials are meant for.”

He said the decision of the party might be painful in view of the huge resources it already committed to the election.

The party urged its members to be peaceful and legal in bringing to the attention of the Delta people and Nigerians the “sacrilegious acts” of the electoral body and the stakeholders.

Meanwhile, Arubi Orugbo, DSIEC’s director of public affairs, said the commission was not aware of the boycott.

Orugbo however said APC’s boycott of the election was of no consequence to the election.

“You cannot start shifting the goalposts at the middle of a football game. It is just irrelevant,” he said.