Plateau APC accuses INEC of colluding with PDP

The All Progressives Congress in Plateau State has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of colluding with the Peoples Democratic Party to tamper with sensitive materials that would be used in the ongoing election petition tribunal.

Director of Media, Publicity and Protocol Affairs to Plateau State Governor-elect, Mr. Festus Fuanter, told our correspondent in an interview on Thursday that the party had received reports that some sensitive electoral materials, especially those used in the election, were being moved to the Government House in order to be tampered with.

He said that among the documents targeted for manipulation were accreditation registers used during the election in three local government areas of Jos-North, Mangu and Wase.

Fuanter said that the plan was to replace the materials and to come up with Certified True Copies that would show a discrepancy between the card reader and the manual accreditation.

He said, “We have received reports that INEC is trying to connive with the PDP to tamper with sensitive materials in view of the pending case at the tribunal and we are investigating to get to the bottom of the case.”

However, INEC’s Assistant Director, Voter Education and Publicity in Plateau State, Mr. Osaretin Imahieyeorobo, said that there was no iota of truth in the allegation.

According to him, the materials the APC were referring to were CTCs given to the parties in dispute as directed by the tribunal.

Imahieyeorobo said, “You were in court when the tribunal ordered that the materials be made available to the parties that requested for them to enable them file their cases at the tribunal. So, INEC asked the party to make arrangements to have the CTCs as ordered by the court and what we are giving them are certified copies not originals and so I don’t know where the allegation of destroying some documents and replacing them with others is coming from.”

Plateau PDP Organising Secretary, Mr. Mike Dachom, also denied the allegations. He told our correspondent in an interview that the PDP was ready to defend the case based on its submissions before the tribunal.

He wondered how the PDP could collude with INEC in the tribunal when it could not do so during the elections.