From Andrew Ajijah, Jos
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State has called for the arrest and prosecution of 42 Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ad-hoc who allegedly absconded with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to unknown destination during the March 18, 2023 governorship and state house of assembly election held in Jos North Local Government Area of the state.
The PDP also called on the Police to arrest the 14 security personnel who were attached to the 34 polling units in the LGA during the elections.
Chairman of the party in the state, Mr Chris Hassan, made the call on Monday at the party’s secretariat during an interaction with Journalists in Jos.
According to him “the disappearance of INEC 42 ad-hoc staff and the 14 police personnel attached to 14 polling units in Naraguta B in Jos North LGA should be investigated.”
Hassan also called on INEC to query its staff who were saddled with the responsibility of monitoring polling units across the state to ascertain the misery behind the unfortunate incident.
“Who were the Supervising Presiding Officers for the 14 polling units and why are they not called to account for the misdeeds of the polling units Adhoc Staff under their care?” he said.
He vowed to ensure that all culprits involved in the alleged malpractice in Jos North local government area of the state were prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others who may want to do same.
He, therefore, appreciated the electorates for massively voting for PDP in both in the governorship and House of Assembly seats across the state, while calling on party supporters to remain calm and await handover.
The Voice reports that the said ad-hoc staff were alleged to have absconded with 14 BVAS, for more than 48 hours, the returning officer for Jos North LGA of the state which made the returning officer for the LGA, Prof Chris Vande to wait in vain.
He had after waiting for 48 hours returned to the state collation centre at INEC office and announced the results gathered from other polling units of the LGA.
