CLO indicts APC, PDP others for electoral malpractice

The Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) in Akwa Ibom State has slammed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well security operatives for their roles in undermining the credibility of the elections.

Chairman Franklin Isong, who addressed a news conference yesterday, accused the groups of aiding and abetting electoral malpractices.

Isong, who accused the APC and PDP of engaging in vote buying, accused security operatives of intimidating voters.

According to him, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not do enough to cover the electoral lapses, and advised the electoral umpire to go back to the drawing board to address them.

HE said: “INEC should return to the drawing board to address the lapses which came to the fore during the general elections.

Read also: March for Army in Rivers over INEC’s accusations

“The critical stakeholders in the electoral process such as INEC, security agencies, political parties, civil societies and the press, should close ranks and ensure that elections remain free, fair and credible.

“Perhaps, the greatest undoing of the elections was the large scale vote-buying which pervaded the state. Cash-for-vote was so pervasive that they were done in the open. Voters were made to write their names before voting and collect the cash after voting. In most cases thugs were fighting over money and sharing formula.

“In Unit 7, at Village hall, Ikot-Anwanna Asanga Asanga Usung in Ikono Local Government Area, it was a free for all fight, and voting had to be stopped until the voters were paid. There is hardly any polling unit in the state where votes were not paid for, all happening in the presence of the security men”.

He called for a reform in the country to address all the lapses in the elections