By Peter Okolie
The Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC), Imo chapter, has rejected plans by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to relocate some polling units to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the state.
The group, led by the Chairman of the Action Alliance, Mr Uchendu Ahaneku, alleged that the move would compromise the outcome of the General Elections in the state.
It would be recalled that the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Sylvia Agu, recently said the relocation would aid voting in volatile areas, particularly in Okigwe and Orsu Local Government Areas.
However, addressing newsmen on Wednesday in Owerri, Ahaneku said the commission planned to relocate six registration areas each from Orlu, Orsu and Okigwe Local Government Areas to their various local government stadia.
Ahaneku said the plan contravened all the extant laws, including INEC Guidelines, Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As amended).
According to him, INEC took the decision without the required due consultations, consent and authority of the heads of the various political parties and other stakeholders of Imo.
“It is sacrosanct that Section 6 of the INEC Regulation and Guideline for the Conduct of Election in Nigeria provides that voting in any election to which these regulations and guideline applies shall take place at Polling Units established by Constitution.
“To this end, Section 24 (a) of the Electoral Act, 2022 further states that the result of all the elections, shall be announced by the Presiding Officer at the Polling Units.
“We the undersigned 12 political parties do hereby implore you sir (INEC Chairman), to use your good offices to call the Imo REC to order.
“If his plan is allowed to stand, it will seriously jeopardise the elections of the Feb. 25, given the position of the Electoral Act of 2022, INEC Guidelines and the 1999 Constitution (as amended),” Ahaneku said.
He said that the plan would be detrimental to the electorate, “who cannot transport themselves to and fro their polling units to the said Okigwe Stadium or any other designated areas in the above mentioned local government areas.
“Furthermore, the Imo REC’s action so far will not only disenfranchise eligible voters, but would also short-change candidates of political parties and their teeming voters,” he said.
Ahaneku, who called for the removal and replacement of the Imo REC, said the group, otherwise called the G-12 political parties, would do all within the law to resist the plot.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the G-12 members are the Accord, Action Alliance, Social Democratic Party, Peoples Democratic Party and African Democratic Congress.
Others are Young Progressives Party, All Peoples Party, Labour Party, Action Democratic Party, All Progressives Grand Alliance, National Rescue Movement and New Nigeria Peoples Party. (NAN)
