The Labour Party, on Thursday, knocked the Independent National Electoral Commission, saying the electoral umpire deliberately came up with its idea of reconfiguring the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines (BVAS), after its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, sought to examine the election materials.
This was as the party faulted the commission’s claim of backing up the data retrieved from the BVAS without the presence of independent witnesses and representatives of political parties.
The protest is coming barely 24 hours after INEC rescheduled the planned governorship and states House of Assembly elections earlier slated for Saturday, March 11 in order to reconfigure the BVAS machines.
He said, “Are we privy or invited to see what was being backed up? If there is going to be transparency, what INEC needs to do is to invite everybody with their technological experts to see what the commission intends to back up from the original source. Was this done?
“We didn’t want to use that as evidence in the court of law. INEC should not forget that we also have our own results. Anything contradictory to that particular result and what they backed up will be totally unacceptable to us.
“It is clear right from the beginning that INEC deliberately went to court for reconfiguration of the BVAS machines after Obi requested to inspect election materials. Of course, nobody, not even you and I, know the commission can come up with anything like reconfiguration at this time. This was done after we demanded to inspect those machines.
“When you are going into an arrangement, it is always important to tell people about the rule of engagement and ensure you don’t change it. But INEC keeps on changing the rule of engagement in order to cover their shady deals. It is unfortunate that we have to bring INEC down to this particular level.”