Yesterday, the Coalition of Civil Societies for Good Governance, an election observer group, issued a warning that the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections that were scheduled for Saturday may not take place unless the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, overturned the order of the election petition tribunal prohibiting the commission from tampering with the BVAS machines.
The People’s Democratic Party, the People’s Democratic Party, and the Labour Party had sought an order preventing INEC from tampering with the BVAS machines until the machines and other documents used for the presidential election were inspected.
Olufemi Lawson, the coordinator of the coalition, made this statement to reporters in Osogbo: “Unless INEC vacates the order before the tribunal, it will be difficult for the commission to reconfigure the BVAS machines for the Saturday polls.”
He stated, ” The current circumstance necessitates serious consideration on the part of the commission as well as other stakeholders, particularly politicians. It would be impossible for INEC to reconfigure BVAS machines for the Governorship and Houses of Assembly elections on Saturday if the tribunal’s ruling against PDP and Labour Party was not overturned. INEC must either postpone the election, proceed without BVAS, or use legal means to overturn the order.
