A credible security source has disclosed that Governor Godswill Akpabio
of Akwa Ibom State has perfected a series of plans to
manipulate tomorrow’s presidential and legislative elections in his
state in favor of President Goodluck Jonathan and other candidates of
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The source revealed that the
governor has converted a guesthouse in the state’s newly constructed
Government House along Willington Bassey Way, Uyo into an election
operational base/situation room to coordinate the electoral plot. He
said the governor had recruited some well-trained ICT experts to man the
room.
All the PDP agents at polling
units throughout the state have been given mobile phones. The highly
paid agents have been instructed to use the phones to send text messages
to the situation room disclosing the total number of accredited voters
in the various polling units.
“Once they receive the number of accredited voters, the ICT experts
at the situation room will allocate votes to political
parties/candidates irrespective of the actual votes cast,” said our
source. “They will then write fake results on the original result sheets
which Governor Akpabio has obtained from the REC [Resident Electoral
Commission].”
According to the source, the
governor’s plan “will result in President Jonathan and other candidates
of the PDP having between 95 and 100% of the votes.”
Mr. Akpabio has boasted on several occasions that Akwa Ibom State would give President Jonathan 100% of votes cast at the polls.
Our source also revealed that
Governor Akpabio had bribed the Resident Electoral Commissioner Akwa
Ibom, Austin Okogie, with N2 billion to persuade him to discard real
results from the polling units and use the ones to be manufactured by
the governor’s ICT experts. He said Mr. Okogie had demanded N2.5 billion
for the deal, adding that Mr. Akpabio accepted on the condition that
the balance of N500 million would be delivered tomorrow after polls
close.
In a move seen as a strategy to
cover his tracks, Mr. Okogie had refused to accredit local journalists
in the state to cover the elections. He had made exceptions only for
reporters working for the state-owned media houses. He accused local
journalists in the state of working for the opposition and writing
critical reports against him. “It was just this afternoon that he [Mr.
Okogie] succumbed to pressure by the journalists and issued INEC tags to
a few of them,” one of the reporters disclosed.
On March 24, 2015, the opposition
All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state had petitioned INEC
chairman, Attahiru Jega, accusing Mr. Okogie, amongst others, of lodging
in Devok Hotel in Uyo which is owned by the governor’s wife, Ekaette
Unoma Akpabio.
Our source disclosed that one
state commissioner had raised the possibility that the fake results
manufactured out of the situation room might not tally with the ones
from polling units. However, another commissioner, Emmanuel Enoidem, who
has been appointed by Governor Akpabio to oversee the running of the
Situation Room, dismissed such fears. “Enoidem said the important thing
is to get INEC to announce the results and that whoever is aggrieved can
then go to court.”
Mr. Enoidem, who is a lawyer, was
quoted as boasting that, if they could triumph at the Supreme Court
today in the four-year legal battle by Frank Okon challenging the
eligibility of Governor Akpabio’s selection as the candidate of the PDP
in the 2011 governorship elections, the PDP would be able to defeat any
legal challenges to the results generated in tomorrow’s elections.
Mr. Akpabio’s original plan,
according to our source, was to clone permanent voter cards (PVCs), but
the governor reportedly abandoned that option when INEC chairman, Mr.
Jega, vowed that such attempts would be futile.
Mr. Akpabio is not new to
electoral manipulation. He masterminded a crisis in the Nigerian
Governors Forum (NGF) when he led a group of PDP governors who refused
to recognize Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State as the NGF chairman
even after Mr. Amaechi had polled 19 votes against 16 received by
Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State. Mr. Akpabio later emerged the
pioneer chairman of a body of PDP governors.
Mr. Akpabio, who is known for extravagant spending of state
resources, once openly confessed to rigging a senator from his area,
Aloysius Etuk, into office.
Our source revealed that, if the plan succeeds tomorrow's election,
then Mr. Akpabio would have no difficulty installing his self-anointed
successor, Udom Emmanuel, when the governorship election holds on April
11, 2015.
Post a Comment