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C/River LG Polls: Observer Caught Police, CROISEC, PDP Members Thumb Printing

A public affairs analyst, Agba Jalingo, who monitored the local government elections in Cross River state on Friday said that there was no election in … Continue reading C/River LG Polls: Observer Caught Police, CROISEC, PDP Members Thumb Printing


A public affairs analyst, Agba Jalingo, who monitored the local government elections in Cross River state on Friday said that there was no election in the state as the electoral process was ‘a PDP affair” adding that police officers, PDP officials and members of the Cross River Independent State Electoral Commission (CROISEC) were caught thumb printing on ballot papers.

Controversies have trailed the recently concluded the local government elections in Cross River state and Mr Jalingo further fueled the controversy with statements he made while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.

“Even though it was a one party election, PDP officials, the police including CROISEC officials – we caught them on video, thumb printing”

“They were thumb printing by themselves”.

Mr Jalingo, who said election did not hold in some parts of certain local governments, averred that people were unable to vote, due to violence and yet results were announced.

“There were few places in the mainland where people could not vote” he said.

At the Bakassi refugee camp, “there was uproar in the morning. The camp commander said they got some information that some politicians were going to come hire some people to go and do violence.

Ita Giwa came in the morning and move over a thousand of them to Day Spring Island where some of them actually voted.” Those who could not meet the voyage could not vote.

Mr Jalingo who was an observer at the elections said “it was a one party election”.

There are 18 local governments in cross river state and only the PDP featured candidates in the 18 local government chairmanship positions.

He said that State Independent Electoral Commissioner “is telling a lie”

The commissioner had said that almost all the other political parties pulled out of the race leading to PDP being the only party standing.

Mr. Jalingo faulted this assertion, adding that “if anybody said the parties pulled out, the person is telling a lie”.

According to him, there are 196 political wards in the state and “the PDP had all of them but seven”.

He disclosed that defunct parties such as ACN and PPA also had their logos on the ballot paper.

“APC, the new party that wanted to contest the election was disenfranchised by CROSIEC”. He continued by saying that the electoral body had called a press conference to say that APC does not qualify to contest because “the cross river local government elections electoral acts says that elections must be conducted 90 days before the expiration of the incumbent tenure and APC was registered later than 90 days”.

He also said that APC chieftain, Obono Obla had revealed that the CROSIEC boss had told him (Obla) via a telephone call that the PDP led state government was pressuring him to bar the APC from contesting.

The CROSIEC chairman, Patrick Otu, then told Obla that APC should write a letter demanding for an extension of time.

The letter was written, however, three days later CROISEC called the conference disqualifying APC from the election.

Mr Jalingo said Otuh, who is yet to confirm the allegation, has been unreachable.

Mr Jalingo stated that the said video is on crossriverwatch.com