The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has agreed to move the inspection of election materials to Thursday to allow the party prepare itself.
The chairman of the APC in Edo State, Jarret Tenebe and the legal counsel, Victor Ohiosumwan, confirmed to journalists that they did not come with all the necessary materials because of a mix up in the inspection process.
Tenebe said, “They are supposed to start with inspection of register and we were not aware of it. INEC had already given us register which we were supposed to compare with the register INEC will bring because there are a lot of suspicions here and there because of the fact that I raised earlier with you guys about the BVAS that was loaded from the government house to this place and registers were also included.
“And the reason why register is an issue, you guys are aware that the case between PDP and PDP that is still in the Supreme Court has to do with the candidate of the PDP not being registered in Edo and the register INEC gave us before the election.
“We thoroughly looked at it and it does not have Asue Ighodalo. So, that is the reason why we want to look at the register they want to give to us critically to ensure that we are not inspecting fake register; that is the issue on ground now. So, the meeting is adjourned till tomorrow.”
The legal team of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who were also at the INEC Edo State headquarters in Benin City, the Edo State capital, however, did not grant any interviews.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Edo State, Anubgum Onuoha, had on Tuesday denied an allegation against him by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), that he resisted request to gain access to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) inspection before the just-concluded gubernatorial elections in the state.
In a statement he signed, Onuoha described the PDP allegation as “baseless, misleading and devoid of the truth”.
Onuoha said he never denied any political party, agents or representatives access to the BVAS ahead of the contestation in courts to inspect the BVAS.
He, therefore, invited all political parties, including the PDP to inspect the BVAS on Wednesday.