Voter register: CUPP alleges plot to arrest spokesperson

The Coalition of United Political Parties on Monday raised the alarm over the plot to arrest its spokesperson and the candidate of Labour Party for Orlu Federal Constituency, Jeff Ojinika, over trumped-up charges.

The organisation said it was a renewed move by the government to silence the opposition from further exposing those behind the monumental fraud in the voter register.

A statement by the co-spokesperson of CUPP, Mark Adebayo, said the clampdown would be coming barely six weeks after the opposition had publicly tendered credible evidence on how the voter register of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Governor Hope Uzodimma’s Omuma ward and 18 other APC states were allegedly compromised by those desperate to rig the 2023 elections.

The Peoples Democratic Party candidate for Ideato Federal Constituency, Imo Ugochinyere , had alleged that Uzodimma and his APC cohorts who allegedly masterminded the arrest and detention of an INEC staff, Felix Agu, in Owerri, were now after him and other members of the opposition parties.

He alleged that the anti-kidnap unit of the Imo State Police Command had perfected a plot to frame him and the ex-lawmaker with trumped-up charges before a Magistrate Court in the state.

According to him, instead of the police command to go after those involved in the widespread plot to compromise the 2023 elections, it is busy witch-hunting innocent persons.

The CUPP Spokesperson in his statement titled “Public Alert” said he had “confirmed that the Nigerian Police and Imo Police Anti kidnap Unit, in particular, are planning to abduct me ( Ugochinyere) & Hon. Geff Ojinika & use trumped-up charges before a Magistrate Court to silence the opposition from exposing more shocking details on those who compromised the voter register and perfected an evil plot to rig the 2023 elections which would have thrown Nigeria into election-related violence.”

Adebayo said, “The Inspector General of Police must show his readiness to be trusted to police a free and fair election by ensuring that the Imo State Police Command is not aiding Uzodimma Imo’s APC government in their plot to silence the truth about the voter register compromise.

“How can we have a police force that, instead of going after criminals who compromised the voter’s register, is busy looking for the source of the leakage of the information that has saved democracy?

“Voters register is a publicly displayed document as required by Section 19 of the Electoral Act and not a secret document. This action of the police is embarrassing and can destroy the credibility of the 2023 elections. The question on the lips of every Nigerian is whether Nigeria’s IGP is aware of these developments.”

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