Allegations of rigging trail APC presidential primary −Report

*There are allegations of irregularities at the Eagle Square venue of the presidential primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress against the APC Election Committee

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

With counting of votes still in progress at the Eagle Square venue of the presidential primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) afternoon Wednesday, June 8, 2022, in Abuja, FCT, allegations of rigging have emerged with accusing fingers pointed at a North-West governor.

An eye-witness at the APC Presidential Primary revealed that the Chairman of the Election Sub-Committee of the party, a sitting Governor from a North-West state, was caught privately taking custody of ballot papers and signing them without other members of the committee being aware of the irregularity.

It was gathered the said governor was reported to have produced the ballot papers although members of the committee were meant to have witnessed the signing and stamping of the ballot boxes openly.

According  to a member of the APC Election Committee who didn’t want his name in print for fear of being sanctioned and victimised, the North-West governor “singlehandedly brought in most of the volunteers for the work.”

The aggrieved Committee member also stated: “In fact, some of us had to force our way to also bring in five volunteers while he alone brought 50 people.

“He alone took custody of the ballot papers and signed them without anybody being aware. He just produced the ballot papers and he had told us earlier that we shall be involved in the stamping (customised) of the papers for additional security, but he did it alone.”

Explaining how the primary was rigged in favour of a preferred aspirant, the source further said: “There are also many instances of delegates’ taking snapshots of their ballot papers after voting. When confronted with this, as it is against our rules, the governor who is the head of the Election Committee, said we should leave the matter, claiming we can’t enforce the rule.

“Someone was caught with ballot papers in his pocket and ran but I think he was caught. But no diligent pursuit of the matter at all.”

The source added: “We have claims of those volunteers this governor brought in filling ballot papers for people in Katsina and Kano, this is also against the rule we publicly agreed to.

“As Election Committee, we didn’t brief the agents about any of our rules before voting started. This I believe is very flawed and process compromised.”

Meanwhile, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, ex-Minister for Transportation and one of the presidential aspirants on the platform of the ruling party, being projected to come second has also alleged rigging of the presidential primary process.

When Amaechi complained loudly over alleged irregulaties in the election process right at the Eagle Square venue in Abuja, crowds at the venue booed, and shouted at him ‘Ole, Ole’ (meaning thief, thief) on live television coverage.

A total of 2,322 delegates from 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) voted at the APC presidential primary.