ANPP chief seeks audit of riverside polling stations

Ahead of the re-run election in Delta State, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) governorship aspirant, Chief Michael Aristotle Ighofose has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct an audit of polling stations in riverside communities.

Ighofose, who was said to have been wrongfully excluded from the 2007 governorship election, maintained that for a free and fair re-run election, INEC must set up a special election monitoring task force for the riverside areas.　

Ighofose made this appeal at a press briefing in Warri during which he said experience in previous elections showed that elections hardly took place in the riverside communities, adding that both the electorate and INEC officials often shied awway from the creeks for fear of violence, intimidation and kidnapping.

He said: "Our experience in previous elections have shown that elections hardly take place in these areas as both the electorate and INEC　officials shy away from going to the creeks to conduct elections for fear of intimidation, violence and sometimes kidnapping."

　He alleged that election results declared from the creeks often showed candidates get more votes than the number of eligible voters there.　

Ighofose expressed confidence in the ability of INEC to conduct credible re-run election, stressing that the re-run election in Delta State was a litmus test for INEC and the integrity of Prof. Attahiru Jega.　

He said ANPP was ready to wrest political control of the state from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), adding that campaign committees and coordinators have been appointed for the various senatorial districts.

He further said if elected, his government will focus on peace and security, youth empowerment and wealth creation, free education at primary and secondary school levels, subsidy for tertiary education and infrastructural development of rural and urban centres to promote industrialisation.

He urged the electorate to rise against election riggers and ensure that their votes count.