The National Campaign Council of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the October 10, 2020 governorship election in Ondo State on Saturday warned the Independent National Electoral Commission not use the Z-pad technology as a subterfuge to rig the election or disrupt the electoral process.
It claimed that “there is no way Governor Rotimi Akeredolu can win in a free, fair and credible election”.
The warning was contained in a statement titled, ‘PDP campaign cautions INEC on use of z-pad’ issued by the Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Ologbondiyan claimed the z-pad technology failed when it was deployed for a test-run for voter accreditation in Nasarawa State bye-election, “ situation that informed its rejection by INEC for voter accreditation in the September 19 Edo State governorship election, where it was only used to assist in direct uploading of results to INEC’s virtual portal.”
He, therefore, urged INEC to limit the Z-pad technology to the purpose for which it has helped the commission to attain integrity as witnessed in the Edo governorship election.
“Our campaign also charges INEC to discountenance the blackmail by the All Progressives Congress against the replacement of the over 5,000 card readers that were burnt to frustrate the conduct of a credible governorship election in Ondo State.
“We also call on INEC to note that the APC is bent on its plots to frustrate the commission’s efforts following clear indications that there is no way its candidate, the failed Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, can win in a free, fair and credible election.”
The PDP campaign council also urged the Chairman of the INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, “to personally monitor the processes of recruitment of state polling officers in order not to allow politicians hijack the processes”.
