Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has raised alarm over a purported fake voter register which he alleged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, intend to use to cause confusion during the governorship election scheduled to hold on Wednesday in the State.
Oshiomhole claimed that the fake voter register had the picture of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the infamous Nigerian “underwear bomber” who was jailed in the United States in 2012 for terrorism offences.
The governor made the allegations when the United State’s Consul-General, John Bray, visited him on Tuesday.
He said that he was shocked to see the picture of Abdulmutallab in the fake register, but with a Benin name.
Abdulmutallab was handed a life sentence in the US after he attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on board an aircraft from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan on Christmas day 2009.
Governor Oshiomhole said: “Right now, we have evidence of two versions of voter’s register – the one they have officially distributed and the one that some elements within the ICT in INEC have also produced in Abuja.
“If the INEC has two versions of voters register and they display one officially, then we have a problem. And the reason why this is extremely worrisome for me is that in my election in 2012, INEC tried to use this method to disenfranchise many of our supporters.”
“For example, I was shocked to find the portrait of Mr Abdulmutalab, and that will interest your Excellency, the young man who has been jailed in the US for a terrorist act. His portrait is in the fake voter’s register with a Benin name under it. I am sure if you look at the face, if we don’t know the face, you the US officials know the face. And you find the name under it, that it is a Benin name in Ovia South West.”
The comrade governor also alleged that INEC had cleared some opposition party members as election observers.
“Last night, in my local government, one of the PDP leaders, who incidentally is on the list of INEC observers, I can be very specific, one Tenebe. we have information that he got boys around and they were shooting but the police went to apprehend them; they engaged the police in a shooting.
“The police had to go and reinforce. As we speak, I don’t have information as to how that was settled. If you have people like this engaged in violence, then it poses a challenge,” Oshiomhole said.
In his reply, the US Consul General, said that he was in the state with his team “to observe the elections”, adding that it was important that the election would be peaceful, fair and credible and reflect the will of the Edo citizens.
“The postponement was a setback a few weeks ago, but I still believe it offers us the opportunity to hold the first successful and transparent gubernatorial election in states in 2016,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nick Dazang, INEC’s Deputy Director, Voter Education and Publicity, has said that governor Oshiomhole’s claims were false as no member of PDP was accredited as election observer in Edo.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja that the allegation had been investigated and found to be untrue.
“The commission promptly directed that this grave allegation be thoroughly investigated.
“I am delighted to report that the commission did not see any of the names among the nearly 3,000 it has accredited,’’ Dazang said.
He assured all candidates and political parties in the Edo governorship election of INEC’s neutrality.