From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (InterSociety) has called for the cancellation of the Anambra governorship election and the immediate sack of Mr Chidi Nwafor, INEC’s National Director of ICT, for allegedly colluding with principal national network providers to engage in high tech rigging of the closely-watched state election.
In a statement released in Onitsha on Saturday, the group said that the alleged rigging was perfected through what it described as the ‘perpetration of mass failure and mal-functioning of Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System machines in many, if not most of the polling centres across the state.’
Signed by Mr Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman, the group noted that the BVAS’s mass failure or malfunctioning of same has rigged out over 70% of the courageous voters that had come out to be electronically captured to vote.
‘We have gathered from many, if not most of the polling booths in the State and across the State’s three senatorial districts, 326 wards and 5,720 polling centres that failure of the BVAS machines is widespread and has forced over 70% of the voters not to be captured.
The group said the development had rubbished the credibility of the entire exercise.
‘It also credibly appears that the rigging is a high tech one spearheaded by the INEC’s ICT done in conspiracy with some principal national network providers.’
The group called ‘on INEC to sack its ICT National Director and cancel and repeat the poll so as to give same the credibility and popularity it deserves.
‘INEC must also reverse this high tech rigging and find alternatives to the massive failure of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System so that voters in the State can vote massively and conscientiously.
‘Specially commended are the Anambra voters who doggedly and courageously defied the security threats all over the state’s political and electoral spaces to come out so as to vote the candidates of their choice only to be massively failed and disappointed by the Commission. This is more so when there are few hours to the end of the charade poll with uncertainties still hanging around over 70% of the intended voters,’ the statement said.