- INEC Chairman Rotimi Oyekanmi stated that the three officials accused by the party are not near the Kogi State Government House
- The statement said three INEC staff are allegedly manipulating the BVAS machines in Lokoja’s Government House to win the upcoming Governorship election in favor of a candidate
The claim made by the Kogi State campaign team of Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, Muritala Ajaka, that three INEC staffs are reconfiguring the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines at Lord Lugard House, Lokoja, the state capital, has been rejected by the INEC as baseless.
In a statement headed “Fake Alert,” Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, stated that the warning expressed by SDP was unfounded.
According to INEC, teams dispatched from the national headquarters in Abuja handle the BVAS configuration concurrently and solely in its offices in the states of Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi. They accomplish this in a professional and rigorous manner.
It urged the general public to disregard the claim by SDP.
The statement reads in part “The attention of the Commission has been drawn to a statement signed by ID Ijele, Director of New Media of the SDP Governorship campaign team in Kogi State. The statement alleged that three staff of INEC are right now maliciously reconfiguring the BVAS machines in the Government House, Lokoja, with the intention of manipulating the forthcoming Governorship election in a part of the State in favour of a candidate.
“The story is untrue. The three persons mentioned are not associated with the configuration of the BVAS machines and are not even in Kogi State at the moment. Mr. Nicholas Ocholi is on his duty post in our Ondo State office in Akure. Ibrahim Egbunu is attending to a very close family member hospitalised in Abuja. Mohammed Adara retired last year and is no longer a staff of the Commission.
“The configuration of BVAS is done simultaneously and exclusively in our offices in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States professionally and strictly handled by teams deployed from the national HQ, Abuja.
“The public is advised to disregard the story as fake news. At the same time, the Commission appeals to political parties to desist from engaging in malicious rumour mongering of this nature.”