Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu
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Governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria in Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, has challenged the Independent Electoral Commission to explain how it came about the number of voters in its register.
In a statement by his campaign organisation on Friday, the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association said the 1,654,205 registered voters declared by the electoral body were questionable.
He said, “As of the last registration in April 2010, Akoko North East had a total of 65,000 registered voters. The statement by the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Akin Orebiyi, at the stakeholders meeting in Akure, that some voters whose photographs could not be found in the register in the last elections would be allowed to vote in the Oct. 20 election is worrisome.
“Orebiyi said 88 polling booths would be created to supplement the 135 existing ones in Akoko North-East, which he claimed will be used by these voters whose photograph did not appear in the voter register.
“We wish tell INEC now that the ACN will not allow voters whose photograph did not appear in the register to vote, as this is against the Constitution and the Electoral Act. The creation of these sister polling booths is not necessary.”
According to Akeredolu, the plan by INEC could be capitalised on by the Labour Party to rig elections in the state.
He questioned why the step was necessary since Orebiyi confirmed that the electoral body only had 50 request of voter cards transfer in the state.
“ACN will not allow the use of the illegal voter register. We, like other political parties in the state, have the original list of registered voters. Anything outside of that will not be accepted by us,” he said.
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Source : punchng[dot]com
