BY Fredrick Nwabufo
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has told voters to ignore Thursday’s order of Suleiman Abba, inspector-general of police (IGP) warning the electorate against staying around polling booths after casting their ballots in the general election.
Speaking at a briefing of accredited election observers for the 2015 elections in Abuja, Abba had advised the people to go home after voting, vowing to deal with anyone who hangs around to breach peace.
But in a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by Lai Mohammed, spokesman of the party, APC maintained that the electorate should rather listen to the Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commissiom (INEC), who stated that the electoral law did not state anywhere that voters should not wait to watch and ensure that their votes were counted.
It urged them to make sure they stay behind to protect their votes after casting their ballots, as was the case in 2011.
“Contrary to the suspicious directive by the IGP, INEC encourages voters to stay behind and watch their votes counted,” APC said, adding that the law expects such voters to stay behind but to conduct themselves in an orderly manner.
“According to Jega, who appeared on Channels TV on Friday morning, the electoral law says anyone that has no business with the electoral process at the polling booths but desires to monitor events should stay at least some metres away from the polling agents and completely away from the ballot box after casting their votes.
“The INEC chairman further clarified that all registered voters have businesses with the process and can therefore not be classified as people who don’t have businesses at polling units.
“Therefore, the IGP has no constitutional right or powers under the constitution or Police Act to rewrite the electoral law. The role of the police is to maintain law and order or such other assistance as may be sought from the police by INEC.”
It also called on Nigerians to “ignore the public service announcement concerning the show of force by government security agencies”, saying “it was part of efforts to intimidate the electorate and pave the way for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to rig the elections”.
APC also asked Nigerians to “ignore the SMS being sent around by the agents of the PDP, asking them to send their names and the last five digits of their VIN (Voter Identification Number) to certain numbers”.
“These and other messages are being sent out by the PDP to steal people’s PVCs, intimidate voters and manipulate the elections,” it said. “Nigerians should never allow that to happen.”
This website uses cookies.