By Anietie Akpan, Calabar
Cross River State Government has denied speculations by Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) that Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) were found in Government House, Calabar.
Reacting to claims that BVAS machines were found in Government House, Calabar, IPAC had, two weeks ago, sought to inspect the machines in the custody of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but it was not granted. On February 6, the state Chairman of IPAC, Anthony Bissong Attah, addressed journalists at Ernest Etim Bassey Press Centre of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Calabar and gave INEC in the state 24 hours to allow for the inspection of the equipment.
But the state government, in a statement, yesterday, by the Deputy Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Linus Obogo, dismissed IPAC as “paid merchants of blackmail” as both the police and INEC had said no BVAS machines were found in Government House, Calabar.
The government said: “Ordinarily, one would have chosen to ignore this latest prattle by IPAC, but to do so is to allow gossip and blackmail acquire a life of truth. So, for the record and just as it is worth stating for the umpteenth time, that there was never a time BVAS machines were found or sighted at Government House, Calabar.
“While one could understand where this knee-jerk alarm is coming from, which is no less than a tilt at windmills, what, in essence, is the motive behind IPAC lending itself as a shield or a hideout for a fractured, disoriented and dispirited opposition in the state?
“Nonetheless, everyone understands the times we are in; so IPAC cannot exactly be an exception to being a willing tool for hire, as we have since found out on good authority that a princely sum of N50 million was offered to the inter-party advisory body by its paymaster to reactivate this falsehood.”
Source: The Guardian
