The New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of restraining its polling agents from Ebonyi South by-election.
A chieftain of the party, Nwaeze Onu, said this in an interview with newsmen on Saturday.
“We do not have a single agent in all polling units across the senatorial district.
“We duly uploaded our agent list on the INEC system for accreditation
and distribution of identification materials to political parties,” he said.
According to him, the state NNPP chairman was at the INEC office in Abakaliki up till 9.pm on Friday but was told that there was no identification card for the party.
“We would not relent but it should be noted that we have been disfranchised from participating in the election.
“We cannot be on the booth when not accredited and will continue protesting this unfortunate development.
“INEC should realise that when someone is stopped from participating in an election, it is a breach of the electoral act,” he said.
Responding, the state INEC Head of Voter Education and Publicity Department, Christian Elekwa, denied the allegation.
“The uploading of party agents list was not done in the states; it was done at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.
“The NNPP should have monitored the accreditation of its party agents in Abuja because that is from where such lists were sent to the states,” he said.