Chairman of Akwa Ibom State National
and State Assembly Election Petitions
Tribunal directing that the ballot papers
used in declaring Governor Godswill
Akpabio as Senator elect for the North
West Senatorial seat seems to have met a
brick wall with the Akwa Ibom State
Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barr
Austin Okojie directing the ten EO’s in
the Senatorial district to mix up the
Senatorial election ballot papers
alongside other ballot papers used
during the general elections to impede
the successful inspection of the over
450,000 ballot papers used in the March
28th ,2015 Senatorial election.
The tribunal had on May 8 granted a
prayer by counsel to the Petitioner,
Chief Assam Assam (SAN) who requested
the tribunal to grant leave for inspection
of the polling document to verify
450,0000 votes scored by Akpabio. The
tribunal had also ordered that the
inspection be carried out within ten days
in the presence of the respondents or
their agents and security agents.
But investigation reveals that efforts by
the Petitioner to effect the inspection
has been undermine by the electoral
body on the prompting of Akpabio who
offered the REC the sum of $3.5 million
to scuttle the inspection.
The Commissioner is alleged to have
summoned a meeting of the EO’s where
he instructed that the Senatorial ballot
papers should be mixed up with others
to make the inspection nearly impossible
so as to cover up the fraud. Investigation
also reveals there is massive ongoing
filling of incidence forms all in a bid to
make up for the bogus figures declared
for Akpabio that is at variance with the
card reader analysis records which is
one of the contentious issues the
Governor is battling to provide answers
for in the tribunal.
When lawyers to the Petitioner went to
the electoral commission to facilitate the
inspection as ordered by the tribunal,
INEC officials declined to oblige the
Petitioner the right for inspection saying
both the Resident Electoral
Commissioner and the Head of
Operations are not available to approve
the inspection, insisting the REC who
was no where to be found must approve
the tribunals order. The duo making
themselves unavailable is part of the
conspiracy between the REC and
Akpabio to ensure the inspection do not
go unhindered. It is also part of a plot to
ensure that the inspection do not take
place within the ten days period allowed
by the tribunal. The tribunal has a 180
days lifespan and a total of thirty five
petitions are before it.
According to a source at the Akwa Ibom
state INEC office, it was to avoid judicial
repercussions following advice from the
legal department of the electoral body to
the Resident Commissioner that the
commission finally approved Thursday
May 14th for the inspection.
In a related development, efforts to
compel INEC staffs to assist fill in
thousands of incidence forms by the
Governor on Monday night in Ukana was
resisted by the officials who said they
could not risk their lives and jobs
because they were already under heavy
security surveillance by security agents.
The Governor had on Monday night
gathered about 450 youths at the Water
factory of his brother, Nsentip Akpabio
in Ukana Ikot Ntuen behind the Federal
Polytechnic in Ukana. The youths who
gathered at the factory from 7pm till
about midnight were instructed to come
with as many as five PVC’s from their
polling units. This investigation reveals
was in anticipation of the willingness of
INEC officials to aid in fraudulently
filling the incidence forms in an attempt
to ensure the results as declared for the
Governor tallies with the number of
incidence forms available to make up for
the margin in the card reader analysis.
The youths who were mobilized from the
different wards of Essien Udim were
however given #200000 each to go home
with a directive to be on standby as they
will be called back once the Governor
can get the electoral officials to play ball.
But the Reclaim Essien Udim group has
warned youths from the area and
officials of INEC not to do anything that
will undermine the order of inspection
of election materials as directed by the
tribunal. The group also called on the
youths not to allow themselves be used
by the Governor to go against the law as
the incoming administration will not
hesitate to bring to book all those
involved in any form of electoral fraud
in the 2015 elections.
While calling on security agents to beam
it’s searchlight on the activities going on
at Nsentip Akpabio’s factory in Ukana,
the group called on the INEC Chairman,
Prof Attahiru Jega to call the state
Resident Commissioner to order as any
attempt to subvert, undermine or
impede the work of tribunal or the will
of the people will be resisted and be met
with severe penalty.
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