Suspected political thugs on Wednesday, October 9, stormed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Benin, disrupting the inspection of electoral materials from the September 21, Edo governorship election.
The incident reportedly occurred following a statement by Edo State’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Anugbom Onuoha, inviting all political parties and their representatives to participate in the inspection—an action that some viewed as a move to complicate the process.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had previously obtained a court order to specifically inspect the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.
The situation escalated when Mrs. Rita Amadi, INEC’s head of legal, announced the start of the BVAS inspection as required by the court order.
A prominent APC member objected, demanding that the voter register and ballot papers be inspected first.
The objection quickly led to chaos at the INEC office, during which one of the PDP’s forensic examiners had their phone smashed while police officers reportedly did nothing to intervene.
The APC chairman then called for an adjournment of the inspection, claiming he did not have his copy of the voter register.
Mrs. Amadi conceded to the request, despite the PDP’s legal representative reminding her that the court order pertained to the voter register used by INEC, not the political parties.
Goodluck Osaretin, a member of the PDP delegation, expressed frustration over the events, accusing the APC and INEC of delaying the inspection to sabotage their case.
“The APC knows what they did during the elections, and we understand their desperation to stop us from inspecting the BVAS machines,” Osaretin said.
He also criticized the REC’s statement, calling it “malicious and mischievous” for enabling the APC to disrupt the process.
With just 48 hours remaining before the PDP’s petition deadline, concerns are growing about whether the BVAS inspection will be completed in time.
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