Athan Achonu, the governorship aspirant from the Labour Party, has come forward with claims of a planned plot to rig the poll in the ongoing Imo State off-cycle election, News About Nigeria reports.
Achonu alleges that there is a concerted effort to manipulate the Bi-Modal Verification Accreditation System (BVAS) in certain polling units across the state.
Achonu, expressing concern about potential malfunctions in BVAS, believes the plot’s purpose is to either generate falsified results or disrupt the voting process in specific areas where the alleged riggers lack a strong presence.
This revelation was shared during a press briefing in Owerri, the state capital.
Chibuikem Diala, the Director of Media and Publicity for Achonu, conveyed the aspirant’s concerns to journalists.
Achonu called on the Resident Electoral Commissioners to intervene and prevent the alleged changing of BVAS passwords by the Registration Area Technical Support (RATECH) team.
Diala outlined the purported plot, stating, “Reliable intelligence from certain LGAs in Owerri Federal Constituency has uncovered discussions by the technical team in those LGAs about providing incorrect passwords to some of the ad hoc staff for this election.”
According to the allegations, the plan was discussed in Owerri Municipal and Owerri North Local Government Areas. It is claimed that the Head of the RATECH team has finalised plans to issue inaccurate passwords to Polling Officers (POs), especially those assigned to polling units with a high number of voters.
The motive behind this, as per the source, is to ensure that some BVAS malfunctions at the polling units, either leading to the production of false results or the disruption of the voting process in specific areas where the alleged riggers lack a strong presence.
Achonu’s camp has labeled these allegations as ‘shameful and devilish’ and has urged party agents, voters, and relevant authorities to hold the RATECH team accountable if BVAS malfunctions occur due to compromised passwords.
They have further called on Polling Officers to report any such instances of criminality.
