Akwa Ibom YPP urges INEC to redeem image with March 11 polls

By Christiana Ekpa

Ahead of the March 11 governorship and House of Assembly elections, the Young Progressives Party, YPP, Akwa Ibom State chapter, has urged the state Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC, Cyril Omoregbe, to win back the confidence of the public after the experience of February 25 presidential elections.
Addressing a press conference in Uyo on Tuesday, the YPP chairman in the state, Apostle Nyeneime Andy observed that the presidential election was marred by a lot of irregularities, thuggery, operational failures and violations of the Electoral Act and urged the REC to ensure the same cases would not be repeated at the gubernatorial elections as the public is losing confidence in INEC.
According to him: “To say the least, the last presidential and National Assembly election was smeared with operational failures. For instance, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) as earlier repeatedly publicised by the commission as its novelty, had many setbacks and was thus, not used maximally. On the general overview, there were instances of lack of transparency and electoral malpractices and adherence to the stipulations of the Electoral Act.
“The state Residential Electoral Commissioner must use his office to restore the confidence of the public and the political parties in the forthcoming polls.”
Andy, who also disclosed an alleged plan by the state government to push for access to original result sheets of all the units, wards and LGAs before election day, urged the REC not to succumb to that as YPP would resist such an attempt.
The YPP chairman demanded from INEC early delivery of the original result sheets and all relevant materials to units, wards and LGAs across the state, warning that various agents will be on ground to resist any foul play and also report such to appropriate authorities.
He, therefore, called on the police, the Department of State Services (DSS), the Directorate of Defence Intelligence (DMI), international observers and the embassies in Nigeria to closely watch Akwa Ibom State to checkmate the alleged alliance between INEC and the PDP-led state government.