The Young Progressives Party (YPP), has rejected purported plans by INEC to store election materials for the Nov. 6 Anambra governorship election in Imo.
YPP’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Egbeola Martins, made this known in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that, INEC, said it would use the commission’s zonal headquarters office in Owerri, Imo, to distribute non-sensitive materials for the Anambra governorship election.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this during the commission’s quarterly meeting with media executives in Abuja, on Wednesday.
Yakubu said the decision was a result of recent vandalization and attacks on the commission’s facilities in Anambra.
Martins described the planned storage of materials as ill-conceived and illogical proposition, capable of overheating the polity, considering the mutual suspicion already existing among the political parties.
According to him, as shown in the unprecedented numbers of pre-election litigations, it will be unwise for INEC to become the agent of destabilisation, stirring needless and avoidable controversies.
“Our inability to have risen above petty considerations as a nation has made perception to be everything in this part of the world.
“It will be foolhardy for anyone including INEC, to think that keeping electoral materials, whether sensitive or non-sensitive in an APC controlled state of Imo is right.
“We call upon INEC to rescind every plan to store election materials in Imo, as events have shown that it is not any better than Anambra or any other state within the region,” he said.
He said that if proximity was one of the considerations for the storage of the election materials in Imo, Delta and Enugu State ranked as better alternatives for proximity sake.
He stated that the call for this logistical rejigging, should not be a herculean task, as anything contrary might suggest that INEC would be compromised.
The YPP national publicity secretary advised the electoral body to manage the cooperation and vote of confidence it currently enjoyed from critical stakeholders.
“Any attempt to go on with this plan against the popular demand of Nigerians, especially the good people of Anambra, will be strongly resisted,” he said.
Martins called for timely intervention of civil society organisations and international community, in the early stage of electoral activities in Anambra . (NAN)
