From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety); in conjunction with the South-East Zone of the Civil Liberties Organisation (South-East CLO) and the South-East Based Coalition of Human Rights and Democracy Organisations (SBCHRDOs) have alleged that some parcels of hard currencies of US Dollars, Euros and Pounds were flying from left, right and centre in Imo State ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.
The groups said that ‘Flying US Dollar Parcels’ were also said to be so intimidating and irresistible to conscienceless men and women tasked with the conduct and security and safety of the Poll-with intents to influencing the Poll and brutally robbing the voting population of their sacred and inalienable rights to credibly and legitimately elect the next governor of the state.
In a joint statement of the group singed by Intersociety Chairman Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi, CLO South-East Comrade Aloysius Attah and SBCHRDOs leader Prof Jerry Chidozie Chukwuokolo said that available intelligence reports were also pointing in the direction of some, if not many INEC designated ROs, EOs, AEOs and Supervisors and Election Duty security agents and their commanders majorly drawn from the Police and the Military as key targeted recipients.
“The most shocking was the fact that the currencies originated from naira versions and drawn from public treasuries within and outside the state comprising earned and borrowed public funds. Situations have severally arisen in recent years whereby teaching staffers of tertiary institutions and ‘semi-expert EOs’ are reported to have been found celebrating the issuance of appointment letters to them as Election Day Returning Officers or EOs much more than their celebration when they obtained their doctorate degree holders or Master’s Degrees or when some were made professors. Their electoral letters of appointment were said to be much celebrated in anticipation of ill-gotten money to be made from politicians in Election Day related assignments.
“We are making bold to say that apart from the deployment of nine Resident Electoral Commissioners to Imo by INEC ahead of the state’s Nov 11, 2023 governorship election amounting to “too many cooks spoil the soup”, it is also a clear case of rigging plot. Based on the realities on the ground including the recent antecedents of the deployed nine RECs, they are also incurably incapable and incompetent to conduct free, fair, secured and credible governorship poll in the state.
“The INEC decision under strong condemnation is also seen as introduction of a new rigging dimension and methodology camouflaged as “extraordinary moves or efforts geared towards free and fair Nov 11, 2023 governorship election in Imo State”. It is possible that the Commission is attempting to outsmart the public and democracy watchers and advocates by this latest move; otherwise why such hasty and over-bloated deployment of nine RECs for a state governorship poll particularly in Imo? Are they truly being deployed for free, fair, secured and credible election or for purpose of mathematically plotting and re-plotting of figures from harvested and written results to a favoured candidate(s)?
“Is it not correct to say that the Commission was frightened by our recent submissions to the effect that “from general evaluation of the current state of affairs in Imo (.i.e. fears, chaos and bloodletting gripping the state since Jan 2021), the governorship election is most likely going to be determined by not more than 300,000 votes with a winner scoring not more than 130,000 votes or not less than 90,000 in the atmosphere of one-man-vote-one-vote contest.”
“The rigging-enemy governorship candidates in Imo State are strongly called upon not to fold their hands and rely on INEC’s promises. They must avoid being totally shocked and disappointed in the end. The candidates, as a matter of fact, must mathematically face INEC in the polling units and ward collation centre and compel the Commission to conduct free, fair, secured and credible governorship election in Imo State. The candidates must particularly apply “demographic field algebra” to get the job done,” the group stated.