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Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka
The insistence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow accreditation and voting to go simultaneously on election day is giving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) great concern.
Chairman of Atiku/Obi Campaign Council in Anambra, Oseloka Obaze, who hinted on the party’s concern in a chat with newsmen, yesterday, in Awka, said such modalities would give room for manipulation.
Noting that with such arrangement, neither the political parties nor observers would be able to monitor the process effectively, Obaze said accreditation and voting should go independently, so that the number of those accredited could be determined and compared with the number of votes cast at a particular location.
“Part of the guidelines issued by INEC, on Monday, remain contentious; part of it is the issue of simultaneous accreditation and voting.
“It is a challenge because if you continue to accredit and vote, at the end of the day, the agents are not sure how many people accredited and how many people voted.
“But, doing accreditation differently, to a certain point, will enable us know the number of people accredited and the agents can sign it off and agree on it; this will protect the sanctity of the process. Leaving it open ended gives room for manipulation, but, we also wish to commend the expunging of the voting points.”
He advised INEC to deploy more energy to the last lap of Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) so that millions of Nigerians would not be disenfranchised.
