Achononu: INEC Frustrating Moves to Inspect BIVAS over Imo Guber

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Nineteen days after the conduct of the governorship election in Imo State, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Senator Athan Achononu, has raised the alarm that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was frustrating every attempt to inspect the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (B-VAS) used during the exercise.

Presidential Candidate of the LP, Peter Obi, had Monday lamented that several months after the Supreme Court delivered judgement in the presidential election, he was yet to get a Certified True Copy (CTC) after he requested and made payments for it.

However, Achononu, in chat with the media in Abuja, wondered why the electoral empire was foot-dragging in allowing him access to the materials, knowing full well that he had limited times to tender his evidence before the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.

The former lawmaker, who claimed that he won the election, said the delay in releasing the BVAS for inspection might be part of the plans by the ruling party to force him to file his petitions out of time and get his matter struck out on technical grounds.

“What is happening right now is that we went to the Tribunal, got an order for us to be allowed to inspect the BVAS. INEC has refused to let us inspect the BVAS up till now. Lawyers and experts were hired at a very huge cost per day 30 million, they are not allowing us to inspect it despite court order,” he said.

The governorship candidate called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whom he described as s democrat that went through the trenches to ensure that democracy returned to the country, to intervene and compel INEC to do the right thing.

He said that Tinubu’s antecedent as one who fought for democracy was the only thing sustaining his desire to seek justice at the tribunal.

“What gives me confidence is that Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu was on the street for June 12, he made us believe that he was a democrat fighting for justice, freedom of choice and equal opportunity.

“Well he is in the same party with Senator Hope Uzodimma but this country shouldn’t be about party, it should be about quality of persons, what do you represent. I was in the senate with the first Lady, Sen. Tinubu, I know the kind of person she is, a person of integrity. How can they allow this kind of thing to happen under their watch?” He queried.

Achononu said the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, during the stakeholders meeting pledged that election result collations would start from the ward to the local government before the state but lamented that collation never took place in any ward.