Fintiri: PDP agents were denied access to Edo collation centre… APC handed unfettered entry

Ahmadu Fintiri, governor of Adamawa, says agents of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Edo governorship election were denied access to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office ahead of the commencement of collation on Saturday. 

Fintiri, who is chairman of the Edo PDP campaign council, spoke on Sunday at a press conference in Benin.

Fintiri said agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were allowed “unfettered access to the INEC premises to participate in the collation process”.

He alleged that the collation was violently interrupted in some LGAs.

“In Edo South, local government collation processes were stopped in Oredo, Ikpoba-Okha, and Egor and moved illegally to the State Headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Benin on the instructions of an Assistant Inspector General (AIG), in complete breach of the statutory collation process,” Fintiri said.

“Affected party agents and representatives were then ordered to converge on the INEC State Headquarters in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area for the completion of the collation exercise.

“Upon arrival, agents of the PDP were not allowed into the INEC State Office for the exercise.

“On the other hand, agents of the APC were allowed unfettered access into the INEC premises to participate in the collation process. This was also in breach of the Electoral Act section on neutrality, as well as the rules and regulations published for these elections.”

The Adamawa governor added that at about 9pm, “senior officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC), accompanied by the police, stormed the Etsako West LGA collation centre and began shooting indiscriminately”.

“As a result of the attack, the council vice chairman was left in a critical condition from a shooting injury. Because of this assault, the expected results from Wards 7 and 11 were not delivered,” he said.

“At the INEC state office, a 2km barricade was created by the police to cordon off access, thereby restricting movement in the area.”

Fintiri reeled out some local government results, emphasising that his announcement did not override the electoral umpire’s authority.

He added that the figures were those received from party agents.

“I did not announce results, I only informed the public of the exact figures from our collation agents that was ongoing before INEC disrupted the process… INEC should be accused of violating the Electoral Act, not me,” Fintiri said.

“It took the protest of Governor Obaseki, who made an entry to the state INEC office and registered the displeasure of the PDP with the irregularities of the collation process, for things to move forward.

“We thereby demand a restoration of the collation process in accordance with the Electoral Act and the INEC rules and regulations for this election.

“Any other illegal and unlawful action going forward will be a violation of the will of the people and abuse of the Electoral Act.”

‘EDO POLL PROBABLY WORST IN NIGERIA’S HISTORY’

Asue Ighodalo, the Edo PDP governorship candidate, said the election may go down as the worst in Nigeria’s history.

“From our perspective, the way these elections are going, they’re probably going to be the worst elections in the history of this country,” he said.

“We have over 20 polling units from the results that were announced yesterday, where the total votes are more than the accredited voters.”

The PDP candidate pointed out some polling units where the alleged irregularities took place, describing the scenario as “totally unacceptable”.

“There’s something definitely going wrong. There’s a result writing scheme going on and it’s totally unacceptable,” he said.

“This process is unacceptable and then they’re trying to disenfranchise our collation agents.

“Like His Excellency (Umaru Fintiri) read at every point, you find APC and their thugs supported by people dressed as security agents going to shoot at polling agents and disrupting processes.

“This is not acceptable in the 21st century. Definitely not in Nigeria. I think we’ve gone way past this.”

Collation of results of the Edo governorship election is under way.