Former Akwa Ibom State governor Victor Attah has called for the cancellation of Saturday’s Governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state following alleged widespread irregularities and violence.
Addressing newsmen in Uyo, the state capital, Attah said he witnessed policemen in uniform carting away ballot boxes.
He stated that INEC officials sent to his unit in Ibesikpo told him point blank that he could not be accredited because gunmen had snatched both the electoral materials and card reader at the distribution centre, adding that in his unit and several other units across the state, there were no elections.
He said: “The violence of shooting and attacking was so widespread. Carting away of election materials including card readers? What does anybody want to do with a card reader? My appeal which I have made to everybody that is prepared to listen to me is to accept the fact that truly, there were no elections in Akwa Ibom State”.
“I told INEC I have come to vote. So, I will like to do my accreditation. They said sorry sir. It is not possible. I asked why is it not possible? They said that at the distribution of electoral materials centre, people came with machetes, guns and fired shots in the air.”