Why Orubebe disrupted proceedings at INEC collation centre and why he said Jega lied

The Peoples Democratic Party,PDP,has protested the decision of the Independent National Electoral

Commission,INEC,to investigate the petition of the opposition All Progressives Congress,APC,against last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections in Rivers State.

The party particularly accused the commission’s chairman,Prof. Attahiru Jega of not only being bias but also partial and tribalistic.

Former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs,Elder Godsday Orubebe and Col.Bello Fadile,who represented the party at the Presidential Election Results Collation Centre,at the International Conference Centre,ICC,Abuja, accused the INEC boss of secretly working for the APC.

Elder Orubebe,who led the protest,wondered why the INEC chairman constituted an investigative panel and sent same to Rivers State to look into the petition from the APC,while it failed to act in like manner on its petition against elections in seven states of the North.

The PDP representatives,whose open protest temporarily halted proceedings at the collation centre,said the party had lost confidence in both Jega and his INEC,and demanded expeditious treatment of its petition against the elections in some states of the North.

Some of the states, according to the party,are Jigawa,Kano,Katsina,Gombe,Bauchi.

Jega lied, we took our petition to INEC secretariat—Orubebe

The representative of the Peoples Democratic Party at the Presidential Collation Centre, Mr. Godday Orubebe has faulted the claim by the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attaihiru Jega that the People Democratic Party, PDP, did not submit its petition through the right channel of communication.

He said that the party took the petition to the secretariat of the commission but it was not accepted, hence,  they approached Jega at the collation centre, who directed them to give it to his Chief of Staff or Personal Assistant, Abdullahi.

“We took the letter to the INEC secretariat but they did not accept it from us so we approached Jega who told us to give it to his Chief of Staff, which we did but we were shocked that he returned it in the evening of yesterday (Monday) that we didn’t follow the right channel,” Orubebe said when interview by Channels TV.

He also said that APC submitted their petition via e-mail through the Chief of Staff of Jega, the same man they gave theirs to.

It will be recalled that at the start of collation on Tuesday, Elder Orubebe accused Jega of bias for failing to acknowledge the petition of the PDP.