From Ikenna Emewu, Abuja

Amid claims and counter claims of plots to rig the December 5 governorship election in Bayelsa State by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC), Daily Sun learnt that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has actually uncovered such attempt.
Some highly placed politicians in Bayelsa had capitalized on the recent review of voters’ register in the state to massively bloat the figures by infusing names including the under-aged persons to make the voters’ list larger.

A reliable INEC source revealed that the culprits exploited the few days used by INEC to update the voters’ register in the state last month by skewing it in some areas where they felt they could easily manipulate the result of the forth-coming poll. Luck, however, ran against the perpetrators when it was discovered that the voting strength of the state had almost doubled what was originally in the register.
The development became glaringly questionable as the inflated figures came after the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Baritor Kpagih, had lamented very poor turnout of voters for the registration when it was still on.

It was revealed that some politicians with financial inducements allgedly compromised certain officials of INEC from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Unit who handled the registration. Some ICT staffers who were accused of the fraud had allegedly configured about 50 Data Capturing Machines (DCMs) and deployed them for the purpose without the knowledge of others; particularly the Electoral Officers (EOs) in the local government areas whose duty it was to coordinate the exercise.
Of the 160 DCMs deployed in the state for the exercise, at an average of 20 machines per local government area (LGA), it was gathered that the ICT staff released 130 to the EOs. Curiously, aside the remaining 30 machines not deployed in the field including those that should have served as backup, it was also discovered that they used 26 other machines for the exercise. The implication is that the fraudulent ICT officer working for his pay masters may have deployed 56 DCMs in the private homes of his ‘clients’ where they carried out the nefarious act.

On seeing the figures that came in from Bayelsa after the recent update of voters’ register, the leadership of INEC suspected foul play as it was impossible to capture such staggering number of prospective voters within the limited period for the exercise.
Daily Sun learnt that the INEC leadership set up a panel to investigate the alleged racket. A directive from the commission’s headquarters summoning the officers in Bayelsa to Abuja had asked them to come with every material used for the exercise. We gathered that the materials were loaded in three Hilux vans and brought to Abuja.

The State Administrative Secretary, Electoral Officers, ICT staff both in the national headquarters and Bayelsa office and any other persons directly or indirectly related to the issue appeared before the panel on October 19.
“The veracity of what the EOs got from the field was very glaring. From the documents they presented to the panel, some of the data generated from the field were still as raw as they were collated. To compound the ICT staff case, the EOs explained the number of data capturing machines they deployed in field and matched them with the data generated. It was at this point that the panel discovered that the culprit did not send all the 160 DCMs meant for the exercise to the field; instead his urge to make quick money made him divert about 30 of them for his private business. It didn’t end there, it turned out that he had 26 other extra machines which only he could tell where he got them from”, a source said.
The ICT officer was handed over to the security from the venue of the panel for more investigation. Further inquiry has allegedly revealed some tens of millions of naira in his bank accounts, which might be proceeds from the deal.
Meanwhile, INEC has dismissed the allegation that one of its officers inflated the voters register, denying that the officer was equally facing any disciplinary action.

Reacting to the claim, the Director, Voter Education and Publicity, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, admitted that though all the officers in both Kogi and Bayelsa were in Abuja last week, the issue of inflation of voters’ register did not come up.
“I don’t know the details, but we didn’t summon our officers in Bayelsa to Abuja last week. Our officers both from Kogi and Bayelsa have always come to Abuja for regular consultation.
“Yes, they were in Abuja last week, but it was a meeting with the commissioners, secretary, and senior management staff to streamline the preparations for the elections. The meeting has nothing to do with an inflation of the voters’ register in Bayelsa,” he said.

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