… Ask INEC to embark on forensic audit of figure
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The Forum of Progressives Political Parties in Osun State has raised suspicion over the recorded number of fresh eligible voters who have so far participated in the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration Exercise being conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission in the state.
The FPPP expressed surprise that Osun could record over 259,000 fresh eligible voters, a figure it said was higher than the total registrations in Northwest, Northeast, South-south and Southeast geopolitical zones combined.
During a press conference on Monday, the political group called on the National Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and other stakeholders in the electoral process to conduct a forensic audit of the CVR in Osun. The group expressed fears that the exercise had been compromised.
The press conference was jointly addressed by Chairmen of Labour Party, African Democratic Congress and Young Progressives Party, Comrade Bello Adebayo, Dr. Idowu Omidiji and Comrade Remi Ayanlade respectively.
The group said, “We have observed with serious concern the geometrical and skyrocketing figures emanating from the website of INEC on a weekly basis on the ongoing CVR in Osun State.
“It has become imperative to update and brief the media and call the attention of the National Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and his entire management to this scenario playing out in Osun state.
“The registration figures as copied from the INEC website indicated that as at 26th of July, 2021, Anambra State that is having election later this year has 65,014 fresh eligible voters while Ekiti State whose election is coming up in June 2022 has just registered 19,043 new and fresh voters, while our own Osun State has registered miraculously and amazingly 259,450 fresh voters.
“We dare say that there is no sufficient, logical, political or economic justification for such an outrageous figure.
“Forum of Progressive Political Parties in Osun State is greatly worried by the continuing skyrocketing of fresh registered voters in the ongoing CVR and we hereby demand that an immediate forensic audit be conducted on the generated figures of Osun state to reveal the true position of things.”
In addition, the group stated, “It is also worrisome that the CVR figures revealed that the new voters in the entire highly politically inclined North West, North East, South South and South East geopolitical zones combined together are far below what Osun State alone has generated in the last twenty-one days is very ridiculous. This put the integrity of the ongoing CVR exercise of INEC to question.”
The group submitted that the INEC server being used for the CVR and some of its staff members might have compromised to ‘fill an inexistent and unrealistic number from the backend of its server.”
