Former Ambassador to Canada and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in Ekiti state, Amb Dare Bejide, has raised an alarm over alleged importation of mercenaries by the All Progressives Congress (APC) from neighbouring states to register to vote for Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state during the June 21 governorship election in the state.
The former envoy called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to investigate the alleged scam which he said had become a common place in the ongoing continuous registration exercise.
Bejide alleged that some strange faces were sited at various registration centres across the state.
However, Chairman of APC in Ekiti state, Chief Jide Awe, has exonerated members of his party from the accusation, saying anyone found in the act should be arrested by the security agencies and prosecuted.
Awe said APC has always been at the vanguard of electoral sanity and strict adherence to democratic principles and nothing will make the party depart from such honourable path in order to ensure the growth and sustainability of democracy in the Country.
Bejide, in a statement in Ado Ekiti yesterday, maintained that allowing the alleged poll robbers to go unchallenged despite the weighty allegations against them could spell doom for the forthcoming elections.
He lamented that it would be as great disservice to the people of the state “for any politician to ambush the electoral process and use it to his own advantage, at the expense of the citizens, saying the security must get to the bottom of the allegation.
Urging INEC not to discountenance the allegation and consider it mere political gimmick from members of the opposition, the ex-envoy, added that INEC “must know that it will be held responsible for whatever ill that mar the conduct of the Governorship election. So, it is expedient that it has to take very decisive action now”.
