Some youths in Khana area of Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State have apprehended officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission thumb printing ballot papers at the Commission’s office in Bori.
Bori is the headquarters of Khana Local Government Area.
The youths, who acted on a tip off, were able to video the officials and others that supervised the thumb printing.
The All Progressives Congress in Rivers State had complained that the outcome of the presidential and National Assembly elections in the state were manipulated.
The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, had however said the Commission did not find anything sinister in the state to warrant such complaint.
One of the INEC officials caught thumb printing, under condition of anonymity disclosed that the action was arrived at to justify the results tendered and provide evidence in preparation for any action the APC will take on the outcome of the election, including going to the tribunal.
The ballot papers from the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections were all being thumb printed in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The APC in Rivers State challenged Jega’s claims, observing: “Even a child will not believe that a state like Rivers, controlled by the party, that it would record less than 70 thousand votes without a single candidate as against the opposition party scoring over 1.4 million.”
The party questioned the rationale behind the said investigative committee meeting with only the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State, Gesila Khan, in whom it had long lost confidence and perhaps the PDP being principally the parties whose misconduct it was meant to investigate.
Senator Magnus Abe, the Rivers South-East Senatorial District candidate of the APC, who received the electoral materials from the Khana youths, urged the Criminal Investigation Department of the police to commence a full scale investigation and prosecute the INEC and police officials involved in the fraud.
Abe said: “As you can see before me are INEC ballot papers from Khana.
“At about 12noon (Thursday), youths stumbled on some INEC officials in their office in Bori, where they brought in presiding officers and supervisors to thumbprint ballot papers and doctored results all in favour of PDP.
“I called the Area Commander, Bori and the DPO who told me the INEC officials were in Bori to collect their stipends on the last elections
“I called CP Karma, who asked me to report the matter to the CID
“I decided to inform the Nigerian public before proceeding to the police CID.”
Abe called on Jega to urgently effect the redeployment of Khan before the April 11 gubernatorial election for showing executive recklessness in collaboration with the PDP and the police.
He sued for the cancellation of the concocted elections, insisting that the votes counted in favour of the PDP were not cast by Rivers State people.
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