The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in charge of Imo, Prof. Sylvia Agu, ahead of the forthcoming November 11 polls in the state.
The PDP on Sunday, at a press briefing in Abuja at the party’s national secretariat, said Agu must be removed immediately because of an allegation of compromise at the last general election.
The party said considering that other political parties have protested and written to the INEC to remove her is enough reason, it would be testing the people’s will if she remains, Naija News learned.
At the briefing, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, said the PDP and other political parties had written several letters to INEC calling for the removal of the REC, noting that INEC should do the needful now to prevent a repeat of Adamawa election fiasco.
The PDP noted that it has become imperative as Prof. Agu “Is compromised and her conduct in the 2023 National and House of Assembly elections where she allegedly manipulated and brazenly assisted the APC in rigging the elections are in the public domain.
“The continuing stay in office of Prof. Sylvia Agu as Imo REC is provocative, inciting, and amounts to testing the will of the people of Imo State and daring them to do their worst. INEC has a lot of RECs from which the INEC chairman can choose to replace Prof. Sylvia Agu and avoid a scenario that could be worse than what happened in the Adamawa State Governorship election, where INEC refused to change the compromised REC.
“INEC chairman must note that the integrity of an election process is directly in relation to the confidence of the electorate. The Imo people have lost confidence in Prof Sylvia Agu’s neutrality, the PDP is asking INEC to immediately re-deploy her from Imo State.”
The PDP also reacted to the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu’s declaration that INEC will make full use of its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal for uploading and electronic transmission of results in the elections in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi states.
The party said, based on the INEC boss’ declaration, it would not accept any result that was not transmitted electronically.
The PDP “The PDP holds INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, directly responsible and accountable to his pronouncements and that INEC is bound by Law to electronically transmit results directly from the polling units using these technologies.
“The PDP is fully prepared for these elections and, in line with the commitment of INEC, will not accept any other means of transmitting results in these elections except as this manner pronounced by the INEC Chairman in line with the requirement of the Electoral Act, 2022.”
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