EDO 2020: APC ACCUSES AKWA IBOM INEC REC OF PLOTTING WITH OBASEKI TO RIG ELECTION

APC levels fresh allegations against INEC REC, Mike Igini, over ‘midnight’ meeting with Obaseki

…challenges Igini to explain mission at hotel housing INEC’s national commissioners

Mr. Mike Igini, INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Akwa Ibom State, has been asked by the APC to explain his presence at Protea Hotel in Benin City where National Commissioners of the electoral body from Abuja were lodged, in fresh allegations raised by the party over Igini’s alleged connivance with Governor Godwin Obaseki to rig the Sept. 19 Governorship election.

Recall that the APC had earlier alleged that Mr. Mike Igini met with Governor Godwin Obaseki in his private residence at dawn on Thursday where a deal was struck to rig the state’s election.

According to the account of the APC, Mr. Mike Igini left the meeting with sacks of money and subsequently intensified his unsanctioned recruitment of youth corp members traditionally engaged by INEC to serve as presiding officers at polling units.

In a new statement released by Mr. John Mayaki, the Chairman of the APC Media Campaign Council, on Friday, the APC says it has received testimony from some contacted youth corp members who detailed how they were approached by Mr. Mike Igini and offered a deal to swap results with fake, pre-written ballots allegedly in production at the Edo State Government House.

The APC also claimed that Mr. Mike Igini approached National Commissioners of INEC invited from Abuja at their hotel in Benin City to persuade them into joining the rigging plot.

“We have obtained pictures of Mr. Mike Igini at Protea Hotel where visiting National Commissioners of INEC from Abuja were lodged. He apparently went there to run the errands of Governor Godwin Obaseki and the PDP. He was overheard at the hotel discussing the Edo Governorship election and the recruitment of ad-hoc staff in an attempt to ascertain the disposition of the officers before persuading them to join the rigging plan he has perfected with the governor.”

“We dare Mr. Mike Igini to deny his presence at this hotel and we shall immediately supply pictorial evidence to the press and members of the public.”

The party charged INEC to investigate and sanction Mr. Mike Igini and carry out a ‘cleansing exercise’ to purge its rank of compromised officers.