Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has said that the November 11 governorship elections in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo States would be merchandised without the use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and Independent National Electoral commission (INEC) Result Viewing Centre (IREV).
National Coordinator of the group, Emmanuel Onwubiko said the electoral umpire has not done enough to convince the electorate in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo states that the election would be free, fair and transparent.
He said; “We have watched with unfathomable amazement, the attempt by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to once more hood wink Nigerian voters in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa States into believing their propaganda that all the glitches experienced during the general elections of February 2023 had been taken care of.
“We are aware that INEC expressed its readiness to conduct a free, fair and credible governorship election in Bayelsa, Kogi, and Imo States on November 11.
“Around September 16, 2022, INEC told Nigerians that it was committed to the deployment of BVAS and IREV for the 2023 election and to transmit the results of all elections electronically but INEC failed to fulfil this promise.”
He berated the National Assembly for the delay in amending the Electoral Act and other extant laws to make it mandatory for election results to be electronically transmitted from polling units.
Onwubiko said it was inconceivable that the governorship poll in Imo State would be transparent when INEC has refused to redeploy the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, who he alleged is related to the Deputy National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
He also said there is conspiratorial plot by some powerful politicians to perpetrate electoral offences, which he said is why some groups oppose legalising electronic transmission of results in real time.