Reportedly, the examination of electoral materials utilized for the recently ended off-cycle governorship election in Edo State was impeded by alleged shootings by political thugs affiliated to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The materials check has been postponed indefinitely, according to Vilrog’s reporting, due to the claimed shooting by the thugs.
It was discovered that the state’s headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was the scene of occasional gunfire, which led to an already stressful environment caused by the thugs’ acts.
An anonymous witness who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity reported that the brawl broke out near the Ikpoba River, approximately 700 meters from the INEC headquarters.
Several people, he said, had bullet wounds of varying severity.
According to Vilrog, the APC objected to the scheduled Wednesday inspection of the electoral materials used in the September 21, 2024 governorship election, therefore the inspection could not proceed as scheduled.
Instead of starting with the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS), the party had demanded that the process begin with the voter registry.
Further, the party contended that the exercise was postponed until Thursday because, despite receiving the schedule just minutes before the inspection, they failed to bring their copy of the registered voters to the inspection.
Problems arose, however, just before the exercise was to begin on Thursday. The APC, represented by Emperor Jarrett Tenebe, the Edo State Chairman, brought the matter to the attention of the INEC Director of Operations through a petition that claimed that on Wednesday, BVAS machines and voter registrations were transported to the INEC complex in vehicles from the state government house.
Representatives from the PDP strongly disagreed with Tenebe’s contention that the party’s petition should be handled before material inspection began, and instead insisted on starting the inspection immediately.
The PDP delegates asked for the inspection to begin and expressed the opinion that the petition cannot replace a legal court ruling because it is frivolous, unsubstantiated, and lacking in fact.
The INEC postponed the inspection indefinitely after the two sides failed to reach a consensus on what to do next.
The APC’s lawyer, Victor Ohionsumua, told reporters shortly after the adjournment that his client will return to review the documents only after their petition was reviewed.
According to him, we reported the sighting of BVAS machines and voter registration materials entering the INEC complex a few days ago in vehicles belonging to the Edo State Government to the state’s resident electoral commissioner (REC), Dr. Onuoha Anugbum, as well as the commissioner of police and department of state services (DSS) in Edo, in a petition that was submitted to them this morning (Thursday).
Based on that, we objected, saying that we can’t proceed with the materials inspection until the petition is decided.
The state REC had not yet given the green light for the INEC legal officer to proceed with the inspection.
Before proceeding, we demanded to know the REC’s decision on our petition. We began to hear gunshots outside the compound as the area (INEC headquarters) got raucous.
The INEC Director of Operations informed him that the inspection would be postponed indefinitely due to security concerns, stating that their lives were in danger. He also mentioned that they have not been instructed to return tomorrow, Friday.
Kelly Ogbaloi, the state’s factional chairman of the Labour Party (LP), also spoke out, claiming that the INEC headquarters did not have an environment that was suitable for the inspection to begin.
“This is not the place for an exercise of that kind because it is a complete and utter chaos,” Ogbaloi stated. This leads me to believe that the relevant political parties and the relevant agency should collaborate to find a solution that will allow the exercise to go ahead as planned.
Those challenging the election’s results should, in my opinion, be treated fairly. In the hopes of reaching a consensus that the people of Edo State can live with.
“I don’t think any exercise can happen here today because there is a total disagreement between APC and PDP.”