The Imo State chapter of the Labour Party (LP) on Saturday raised the alarm that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was denying its legal team access to the certified true copy (CTC) of documents used for the governorship election in the state.
In a statement by the spokesperson to the LP governorship candidate in the election, Chibuikem Diala, the party alleged that the electoral umpire was deploring the delay tactics to frustrate its plans of challenging the outcome of the poll at the election petitions tribunal.
It, therefore, called on the chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, to prevail on the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Sylvia Agu, to release the CTC to the legal team of the LP candidate, Nathan Achonu.
The statement read in part, “Our notice has been drawn to mischievous plans by Imo State INEC under Prof Sylvia Agu to deny our legal team access to certified true copies of documents used for the 11 November governorship election in Imo State as required by law. This is after an official request has been made by our solicitors to the State INEC office duly acknowledged and received on 15 November 2023.
“It is important at this stage to alert the national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the security agencies of these devious delay tactics which may be to further deny our party and the candidate of the Labour Party in the 11 November election justice”.
While describing the development as unacceptable, it urged INEC to “do the needful immediately as time is of the essence”.
It added, “We only hope that this delay is not a decoy by Imo State INEC and agents of the APC-led government to perfect their rigging by tampering with sensitive materials at the INEC office.
“This strategy to deny the people of Imo State the opportunity to have a leader of their choice will not work as we call on INEC to do the needful and stop taking Imolites for granted.
“While we wait for INEC to speedily do the needful, we further assure the caretaker governor in Imo State to enjoy his ‘Certificate of Return’ only for a moment as he will soon return it to the rightful owner”.
