The Labour Party (LP) has opted to shun the forensic inspection of materials used for the conduct of the controversial November 11 governorship election in Imo State.
The party insisted that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, must list all the items to be inspected, including BVAS, and also establish procedures for the inspection.
The process commenced about 4pm on Tuesday but many were disappointed that INEC did not communicate the procedure for inspection, neither did they make available the BVAS for inspection to the parties.
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INEC was also accused of not having an established protocol on what and how to inspect the materials.
This prompted the Labour Party, represented by the State Chairman, Barr Callistus Ihejiagwa, to distance itself from the inspection unless clear procedures are established and the documents to be inspected, including the BVAS, duly listed.
There were also concerns as to why INEC officials did Party barred the media to participate in the process, as they stopped newsmen from CHANNELS TV, ARISE, AIT, NAN and The Sun correspondents, from accessing the inspection room.
Also, the INEC HOD, Legal, stated that the BVAS were not available for inspection.
Reacting to the development, Ihejiagwa stated: “We are here at the behest of the Governorship Tribunal sitting in Owerri, which granted us our request to inspect the materials.
“The Labour Party came here with our team of inspectors as ordered by the courts.
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“We have been here since morning and we were informed by the HOD legal that the inspection will start by 3pm. We have been around. I have met severally inside his office and I told him specifically that he should call all the representatives of all the parties interested in this matter.
“The parties that obtained court oders include PDP, YPP, APGA, including Labour party. Since APC was the party that was purportedly declared winner of the election, I told him he should also bring them in because they have interest so that all the representatives of these five political parties would sit down and agree on modalities. He agreed but he was yet to do that. The next thing he moved to bis office, before his staff came and informed us to move to the hall. In the hall he said he has tried to get the parties to agree and they have not agreed.
“I said to him, Sir, I am not aware that we have met because we never met to agree on the modalities for inspection. I told him that what we want is a very, smooth, violence-free inspection as ordered by the tribunal where everyone will have the opportunity to participate equally under an arranged formula for the inspection and we haven’t agreed on that.
“That is why I am standing here waiting for him so that we can all agree on how the inspection will go, and the materials that will be inspected. We entitled to have these records before we move into the arena.
“The Labour Party is committed to a transparent process and we urge INEC to do the right thing by establishing protocols and listing the documents and materials to be inspected, including the BVAS.
“We also demand that the media should be allowed to be part of the process as a part of their contribution to democratic efforts and good governance.
“We reiterate our stand that that INEC has compromised the entire process, and their deliberate refusal to grant us access to inspect the BVAS as ordered by the Tribunal confirms our stand,” the Imo LP chairman insisted.
Meanwhile, Gozie Nwachukwu, the legal representative of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) questioned the credibility of the INEC inspection process.
He wondered why the INEC office, the venue for the court-ordered inspection should be so rowdy with alleged APC lackeys, loitering around, chanting songs and making noises.
Nwachukwu described the environment as “unconducive for the process under which any meaningful work can be done.”
He took a swipe at INEC, saying “right from the beginning of this process everything they (INEC) have done is contrary to the Electoral Act.”