The Social Democratic Party (SDP) Candidate for the Kogi State Governorship Elections, Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka, has apologised and reiterated his absolute confidence in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a transparently free and fair election on November 11, 2023.
In a statement issued by his spokesman, Faruk Adejoh-Audu, the Director of Communications for his campaign, Alhaji Ajaka, expressed this vote of confidence while addressing a meeting of Party Stakeholders over the weekend.
He mentioned that he and the party’s leadership had taken the time to thoroughly examine the measures introduced by the commission to prevent electoral fraud. They are convinced that the votes of the electorate will ultimately prevail.
Earlier, ID Ijele, the Director of New Media of the SDP Governorship campaign team in Kogi, claimed in a statement that they had received reports of INEC staff allegedly being housed in the Kogi State Government House since October 18, 2023.
Ijele claimed that their campaign team had insider information revealing that Mr Ibrahim Egbunu, Nicholas Ocholi, and Muhammed Adara, who are INEC staff, had been contracted by the Governor for a covert operation aimed at reconfiguring and personalizing the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) devices.
However, INEC responded to these claims on the social media platform formally known as Twitter, describing them as “fake news.” INEC stated that the three individuals mentioned were not associated with the configuration of the BVAS machines and were not even in Kogi State at the time.
According to INEC, Mr Nicholas Ocholi was on duty in their Ondo State office in Akure, Ibrahim Egbunu was attending to a hospitalised family member in Abuja, and Mohammed Adara had retired last year and was no longer a staff of the Commission.
INEC clarified that the configuration of BVAS was carried out exclusively in their offices in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi States, professionally and strictly handled by teams deployed from the national headquarters in Abuja.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka told journalists that his campaign was more concerned with the desperation of Governor Yahaya Bello, whom he accused of abusing the authority of his office by arming thugs and procuring security agents to create an atmosphere of fear and terror before the elections.
Ajaka expressed his shock that a thug who was arrested turned out to be a serving Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP). He recounted how this thug and others had opened fire on his convoy but were repelled by his security details. Their kingpin, a fugitive declared wanted by the Federal High Court, managed to escape.
Ajaka stated, “I was shocked when the one caught in the bush started begging and crying out that he’s a police officer detailed to follow the thugs by his superior.”
He reassured his supporters to disregard any alarms about individuals reconfiguring BVAS devices, emphasising the confidence he has in INEC’s ability to secure the votes.
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