Gov’ship poll: Don’t allow repeat of Adamawa scenario in Imo, PDP tells INEC

The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately remove the Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Imo, Prof. Sylvia Agu.

PDP said the call has become imperative as Prof. Agu “Is compromised and her conduct in the 2023 National and House of Assembly elections where she allegedly manipulated and brazenly assisted the APC in rigging the elections are in the public domain.”

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Abuja on Sunday, National Publicity Secretary of the party, Hon. Debo Ologunagba said the PDP and other political parties had written several letters to INEC calling for the removal of the REC, adding that INEC should do the needful now to prevent a repeat of Adamawa election fiasco.

Ologunagba also said recently, many opposition political parties including the PDP, LP, YPP, ADC, and AA among others staged a peaceful protest at the INEC office demanding the immediate removal of Prof Sylvia Agu.

PDP said: “The continuing stay in office of Prof. Sylvia Agu as Imo REC is provocative, inciting, and amounts to testing the will of the people of Imo State and daring them to do their worst. INEC has a lot of RECs from which the INEC chairman can choose to replace Prof. Sylvia Agu and avoid a scenario that could be worse than what happened in the Adamawa State Governorship election where INEC refused to change the compromised REC.

“INEC chairman must note that the integrity of an election process is directly in relation to the confidence of the electorate. The Imo people have lost confidence in Prof Sylvia Agu’s neutrality, the PDP is asking INEC to immediately re-deploy her from Imo State.”

The party, which also spoke on the situation in Kogi and Bayelsa states ahead of the November 11 elections said the party has noted the statement by INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu that INEC will make full use of its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal for uploading and electronic transmission of results in the elections in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi states.

The PDP said the INEC chairman has confirmed that the use of BVAS and IREV in this election and even in previous ones is a mandatory statutory requirement of the law and as such will not accept any result that was not transmitted electronically.

Ologunagba said: “The PDP holds INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu directly responsible and accountable to his pronouncements and that INEC is bound by Law to electronically transmit results directly from the polling units using these technologies.

“The PDP is fully prepared for these elections and in line with the commitment of INEC will not accept any other means of transmitting results in these elections except as this manner pronounced by the INEC Chairman in line with the requirement of the Electoral Act, 2022.”

He said they are poised for the elections as the PDP candidates in the three states have been accepted by the people due to their track records and capacity to deliver.