The campaign group of the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate in the Osun State governorship election, Ademola Adeleke, has raised the alarm that some illegal polling units are being created in some parts of the state.
The group said the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was responsible for the creation of the illegal polling units in conjunction with the ruling All Progressives Congress.
The Director General of Ademola Adeleke Campaign Organisation, Akogun Lere Oyewumi, made the allegation in a statement he issued on Friday, a day ahead of the election.
He however said the units were known only to the APC and largely concealed from the opposition parties.
He said his group had discovered several of such illegal, rigging-focused voting units at Ila Orangun, Ilesa, Iwo and Osogboland.
The said centres, he pointed out, were with between 6000 to 10,000 voters had been supplied with all necessary voting materials and equipment.
According to him, the goal was to ensure that fake votes from such centres were added to the mainstream votes to give an edge to the APC.
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He said it was gathered that the technical rigging through fake centres originated from INEC national headquarters with the state office compelled to play along.
“We note with anger that the practice is widespread and has already undermined the integrity of the electoral process even before it takes off.
“We consequently demand that the electoral commission discontinued the planned operations of the fake centres. We seek with all sense of urgency the intervention of critical stakeholders before it is too late. We warn that we will insist that only polling units contained in the list submitted by INEC to the political parties will be acceptable to us, both for the purpose of voting and collation,” he said.
He added that the party’s agents and returning officers had been directed to remain extra-vigilant and insist only on the recognition of official list of polling centres.
“Our party and candidate will not accept rigged votes from illegal units,” he warned.
