Following an order of the court mandating the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to allow the Peoples Democratic Party PDP access to inspect election materials used in the just concluded gubernatorial election in Nasarawa state, the PDP has raised concerns over what it described as threat of the Nasarawa state INEC office to destroy election materials used in the election.
The PDP raised the concerns in a statement signed by its Nasarawa state Secretary, Alhaji Adamu Bako Ninga and made available to Middle Belt Times in Lafia on Tuesday. The party said the state INEC office has denied her access to inspect the election materials as ordered by the court.
Recall that the PDP in the state had earlier rejected the declaration of Governor AA Sule as the winner of the Saturday 18th March governorship election. The declaration made by Professor Ishaya Tanko of the University of Jos has received wide condemnations leading to mass protests in the state.
The statement reads in full;
INEC Nasarawa State Office yesterday refused to obey the court order directing them to allow the legal team of the PDP to inspect the documents/reports of the 18 March 2023 governorship election in the state.
Even more disturbing is the alleged threat by the administrative secretary of INEC In the state Alh Musa Usman Wase to destroy the documents/reports in order to hide the evidence of the massive rigging that took place at Gayam and Chiroma wards in Lafia and in Tunga in Awe LGAs.
The Admin Secretary Alh Musa Usman Wase reportedly directed that no document on the election should be released to our lawyers despite the the court order and our official request for the documents.
Besides, there are strong rumors of threat by the Admin Secretary to tamper with the documents because of the obvious discrepancies between the iRev results and the figures announced by the INEC returning officer declaring Abdullahi Sule as winner.
The PDP wishes to alert the public that Usman Wase is working to frustrate the PDP Legal team and to tamper with election documents to hide the rigging that took place in Lafia and Awe LGAs.
PDP calls on the INEC National Chairman to direct the Lafia office to respect the Order of the courts and to immediately release the certified true copies and allow our legal team inspect the election materials.
We condemn the blatant partisanship of Usman Wase and the Director of Operations and the alleged threat to tamper with records of the Governorship election in Nasarawa state.