The national chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Julius Abure, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel elections in Obio/Akpor, Khana, Eleme, Obigbo, and Rumukoro areas in Rivers.

Mr Abure made the call in a statement he issued on Sunday in Abuja.

He said the party’s leadership was shocked by the revelations emanating from Rivers State after the presidential and National Assembly elections held on Saturday.

Mr Abure alleged that thugs loyal to Governor Nyesom Wike invaded various polling units and collation centres and took away election materials, including the results sheets.

He further alleged that the thugs manipulated the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines and uploaded fake results into the central portal.

“Nigerians went into this election based on the assurances by INEC that the deployment of BVAS was a perfect antidote to electoral malpractices in Nigeria.

“But what transpired across Nigeria, if allowed to stand, is purely a betrayal of trust of millions of Nigerians by INEC,” Mr Abure said.

He alleged that INEC’s staff were intimidated by these thugs in connivance with military personnel and police officers who were deployed to protect them from doing their bidding and were forced to manipulate the BVAS.

Mr Abure alleged that some of these manipulations happened late in the night.

“We demand that INEC investigate these atrocities against Nigerian voters by the political class.

“We are therefore asking that INEC should rise to the occasion and cancel all the unverified and manipulated results arising from the presidential and national assembly elections in parts of Rivers State.

“Particularly in places like Obio/Akpor, Khana, Eleme, Obigbo and Rumukoro, amongst others,’’ Mr Abure said.

(NAN)