3 parties alleges plot by INEC, DPP to sabotage voter registration in Sokoto
Three political parties in Sokoto State have accused the state office of the INEC and the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) of colluding to sabotage the
voter registration.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ANPP, the PDP and the Action Congress (AC) made the accusation, at a
joint press conference in Sokoto .
Speaking on behalf of the other parties, the state PDP Chairman, Alhaji Arzika Tureta, said that they were ``forced to speak out'' because of the importance of the ongoing exercise.
``The exercise is key to ensuring a hitch-free general election in 2007 and we are speaking out to forestall an ugly situation next year," he added.
He said that the police, INEC and the DPP were conniving to subvert the voter registration.
``The DPP is also using other strategies to rig the 2007 general elections, including the registration of school pupils as voters,'' he said.
Tureta further alleged that the voter cards of the under-aged pupils were collected by DPP officials, while the voter cards of others were being ``withheld" for some nefarious reasons.
Besides, he alleged that some people were trading in voter cards, and that DPP was encouraging multiple registration.
The threes parties also condemned the release of the two people arrested in Sokoto last Wednesday, for allegedly registering some youths at the private residence of an official of the Shagari Local Government.
``Why should the police say that they were released to INEC because there were no complainants or evidence, that's very absurd," Tureta said.
He said that the issue regarding the complainants never arose because the suspects were arrested by the police.
He said that the complainants would employ all means to seek
redress.
Tureta said that the parties would also petition the national headquarters of INEC and the Inspector General of Police, Mr Sunday Ehindero, on the matter.
However, the State DPP Secretary, Alhaji Attahiru Mohammed, dismissed all the allegations as ``baseless, and unfounded''.
``The DPP is a very strong party which is growing like a wild
fire, we don't have to rig any election to win," he said.
Besides, the state INEC's public relations officer, Alhaji Musa Mohammed, also told NAN that INEC had since suspended the
two arrested ad hoc officials.
He said that all the allegations by the three parties were baseless rumour, adding that INEC would never object to any action by the police on the matter.
Mohammed also said that INEC would soon set up a committee to probe whether the suspended officials illegally registered some voters.