The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has condemned the error made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in omitting the party’s name on Saturday polls ballot papers.
Prof. Shuaibu Oba-AbdulRaheem, the Kwara gubernatorial candidate of NNPP, expressed the dissatisfaction in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in llorin on Saturday.
He alledged that INEC erred on the name of the party and the logo of NNPP.
The governorship candidate however said that the beginning of the exercise was very smooth.
Oba-AbdulRaheem noted with pleasure the large turnout of voters, with their eagerness to exercise their voting rights, but frowned at the mistake made on the ballot paper, in terms of name and party logo.
“NNPP logo appeared very blurred and the name of the party is not the same.
“It is possible that people who can read are looking for the name NNPP but cannot find it and may not actually know the logo.
“The only people that have advantage are those that knows the logo, but cannot see the name of the party beside it,” he said.
Oba-AbdulRaheem said that it was likely for the error to raise a very important national issue, describing it as “a very stupid, irresponsible error on the part of INEC”.
“They should have attached somebody to crosscheck such significant steps taken, but the way it is, we will look at the reaction of the party,” he said.
The gubernatorial candidate however said that two other parties also have issues with their logos appearing blurred on the ballot papers.
“I expect that the people at the national headquarters will take it up with INEC and call their attention to the mistake and know if such mistake can be corrected.
“People have the right to petition, as this is an election, even though it appears very peaceful, the mistake made could cost the nation a very big embarrassment,” he explained.
On his part, the Kwara Central Senatorial candidate of NNPP, Alhaji Abdul Ayelabegan, told NAN that INEC has committed a “monumental error”.
Ayelabegan said that in conducting a very valuable presidential election in Nigeria, many people all over the world await the outcome.
“The name of a very popular candidate is not included, that is NNPP, and the remaining part of the logo is blurry, invariably the party is not ably represented on the ballot paper.
“This means that if NNPP win the election, other party may go to tribunal and challenge the result that the party is not ably represented on the ballot paper,” he said. (NAN)
