Ploy To Falsify Voters’ Registers: Oshiomhole raises alarm

BENIN CITY - Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole yesterday raised the alarm over an attempt by the Peoples Democratic Party to connive with the Independent National Electoral Commission to falsify the voters’ register in the state.

The governor who addressed over 5,000 protesters at the INEC office in Benin City advised President Goodluck Jonathan to stop the move and not allow himself to be used to create a potentially volatile situation.

“This morning we have started the business of ensuring that never again will Chief Tony Anenih continue to perpetrate election fraud in Edo. We want the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Director of the State Security Service, all forces of Development and those who believe in Democracy to be put on notice of the plans of the PDP in the state” he noted.

According to him, President Jonathan benefited from the votes of Edo State, therefore he should not allow things to fall apart, because people like Chief Anenih do not have the interest of the country at heart.
“We in Edo State cannot run away from our land, but we have the responsibility to stop them.

The PDP candidate, Charles Airhievbere should be ready for one man, one vote. He must understand that votes and not bullets determine the winner in a democracy,” he added.

The governor disclosed, “I have written a letter to Prof. Jega who I believe is a gentleman and determined to conduct a fair and free election to inform and remind him that some INEC staff are working with Anenih to ensure that Jega does not conduct a free and fair election.

“I wrote to Prof. Jega that PDP wants to doctor the voters register by taking the names of voters away from the register and putting them somewhere else so that when they go to vote, their names will not be found in the register and this will cause confusion,” the governor noted.

Comrade Oshiomhole alleged that the ICT department of INEC in Benin City conspired with the ICT department in Abuja to falsify the voters register during the updating of the register to accommodate people who are 18 years old.

“Why will INEC deploy 472 Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines to the state when they will not need more than 18 registration points at the local government headquarters.

They want to aid and abet the PDP by changing Local governments to wards which is a departure to what obtains in the past. We do not believe they need to do it in the 192 wards , then why do they need 472 DDC machines,” he noted.

The Governor said that even if INEC were to do voters’ registration update in the 192 wards in the state, it won’t need more than 192 DDC machines instead of the 472 DDC machines it is deploying in the state.

The governor said, they plan to take the remaining 280 DDC machines to their godfathers at Uromi and other secret places where they intend to carry out illegal registration of voters, adding that, “we will not go to court, we will fight them eyeball to eyeball.”

While commending the vigilance of the youths who caught a man with a DDC machine, Comrade Oshiomhole said the suspect has confessed that he was directed by the PDP to take the machine to a secret location and that they are already doing registration of voters in Uromi.