By Victor Okoye
Ogoja, Cross River, Feb. 25, 2023 (NAN) The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) faithful in Cross River on Saturday raised concerns over the distortion of the party’s logo on the ballot paper.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Presidential and National Assembly elections were largely peaceful in Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River
However, a cross section of NNPP party faithful who spoke to NAN on the sidelines of the ongoing elections noted that there were some discrepancies in the party logo on the ballot paper which made it difficult for people to cast their votes rightly.
Wilfred Bonse, the NNPP Gubernatorial candidate for Cross River State noted that the logo was completely defaced, adding that the experience was quite horrendous.
“Very unfortunately, the NNPP was not represented on the ballot papers as should have been.
“I struggled very hard to even recognise as a candidate of the party at the level of the gubernatorial position to recognise the logo of the NNPP.
“The NNPP logo is a basket of fruits, but I unfortunately found a mixed coloured basket not of fruits but probably something that looked like one or two yams without even NNPP written under.
“That’s a fiasco, total fiasco. Even when some of our candidates and agents were trying to capture it on picture and videos as evidence, they were attacked.
“So, this is a very big gang up and conspiracy if you like against the NNPP. The other parties have their logos clearly stated. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for instance has the Umbrella well captured, the APC and even the Labour Party.
“I struggled very hard to find ours and barring in mind that one is not supposed to start teaching people on the election ground how to locate your logo. So, the experience we had today was quite horrendous,” he said.
Bonse urged INEC to come clean, adding that the situation was not acceptable by NNPP.
He stressed that the issue would be addressed at the highest level
“Every party has a logo wherewith it has educated its followers and those logos must be spelt and clearly stated as it is in every representation.
“We will take this up at the highest level for sure. This is not acceptable and some of the videos which have gone viral were being attacked, particularly our Senetorial candidate, Carolyn Williams for attempting to take photos of the ballot papers.
“Her phone was being confiscated when she also tried to do a video of what the NNPP logo on the ballot paper looked like.
“So, this anomaly has to be corrected as soon as possible because the elections must be seen to be free and fair,” he said.
Carolyn Williams, Cross River North Senatorial Candidate of the NNPP said there was an intentional attempt to sabotage the effort of the party by INEC and some unscrupulous agents.
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“I think we were sabotaged because firstly, my party logo didn’t even look like my party logo.
“Then when you go to the House of Representatives and Presidential elections, the party logo was totally different. It had stars on it, a complete contrast to our party’s authentic logo which has a fruit basket.
“So, alot of our supporters and voters were confused because they couldn’t recognise the party logo and it brought alot of chaos and instability in the voting process,” she said.
Williams also revealed that were pockets of violence in some wards as well as some irregularities recorded.
“We had some issues in West ward I and West ward II where our party agents took off due to fear of the All Progressives Congress (APC) boys.
“So, there were no other agents but only the APC boys there and even when I got there I was attacked and had to quickly leave.
“Even the INEC officials and presiding officers wouldn’t let me take evidences of the ballot papers.
“In West ward I, we had issues where the voters couldn’t recognise the party logo and some of them got confused and started voting for the likes of PDP when they couldn’t find the NNPP logo.
“Also, in Yala, precisely in Sen. Stephen Odey’s ward, we know that the Senator blocked the road with trailers, hijacked the whole 16 polling units and made sure that nobody could come there.
“He brought Benue people to come and cast their votes instead of the original indigenes of the area and the villagers complained.
“Basically APC got 35,000 fraudulent votes. Which could have been mine So, I don’t think this election was free and fair. I feel NNPP was sabotaged and therefore this election should have a re-run as far as I am concerned,” she said.
Ferdinand Ajijie, the House of Representatives candidate for Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency expressed dissatisfaction over the logo issue, adding that it had adversely affected his party’s chances at the polls.
“In polling unit 001 in West ward I which is my polling unit, the voting process is almost completed but there are certain things which I will like to express my dissatisfaction over.
“I had alot of followers and supporters who could have definitely casted their votes for us but our logo in the ballot paper wasn’t conspicuous.
“We had difficulties in identifying our party logo and one of those things I noticed was that other political party logos had their name attached to them, but the NNPP didn’t have theirs.
“Our party logo is a food basket inside the Nigerian map but what I saw was things like stars and one edifice that I can’t even describe as a logo,” he said.
Ajije urged the National Executive Committee of the party to take quick action to ensure that the issue is properly looked into and addressed as soon as possible.
He stressed that the anomaly had adversely affected the party, adding that he made contacts with other polling units and the same complaints were registered in the state and all over the country.
He noted that the elections were generally peaceful save for some pockets of violence and irregularities recorded in some wards.
“I received some disheartening news that my Senatorial Candidate was attacked in West II Oboso where she alleged that some APC boys attacked her when she complained about the party logo.
“Even the Ward Chairman of West II was also attacked and his shirt torn when he complained on the same issue, apart from that, the elections were generally peaceful,” he said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
