The Labour Party has criticised the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, over his stance on the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the 2023 general election.
Naija News reports that Adamu had expressed concern over the use of BVAS and other technology to transmit results electronically in next year’s general polls.
Adamu raised the concern when he received a Commonwealth delegation on the 2023 general election in his office at the party secretariat on Wednesday.
However, in a statement on Thursday, the APC Spokesman, Felix Morka, said the ruling party would never kick against the use of technology in the 2023 election.
Morka said the party’s national chairman was quoted out of context concerning his position on the use of BVAS and other technology during Wednesday’s meeting.
Reacting to the development in a chat with The Punch on Thursday, the LP Spokesman, Abayomi Arabambi, argued that Adamu’s stance was a subtle strategy aimed at putting pressure on the electoral umpire to discard the BVAS.
Arabambi asserted that the statement that claimed the Adamu recanted is enough to indicate that the APC is afraid of losing the 2023 election.
He said, “It is obvious that the APC is jittery. This is a strategy to put pressure on INEC but it is not going to work. The APC is not the only party contesting in the 2023 election. For the fact that they claimed the man recanted is enough to indicate that they are afraid they will lose the election.
“I expect that the man was in his right senses before he complained about the BVAS, which is the only solution to election rigging. Even INEC has affirmed that there is no going back.
“Is it only the APC that wants to run for election in Nigeria? They are not the owner of the country and the electoral system. They came in through the electoral system and will be booted out through the same process. As far as we are concerned, whether Adamu recanted or not is an afterthought.”
SDP Reacts
On his part, the National Publicity Secretary of the Social Democratic Party, Rufus Aiyenigba, called on INEC to be firm on its decision to use technology to transmit the 2023 election results.
He added that the Ekiti and Osun state governorship elections showed how relevant the BVAS is to the electoral system.
“INEC has demonstrated its non-partisanship in the past few years and the SDP will continue to support the commission, particularly its use of technology to improve the conduct of our elections. As a party, we are prepared for the elections. Any individual or group mounting pressure on INEC is an enemy of our democracy,” he said.
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