27 May, 2017
According to a report by Premium Times, Bello's criminal behaviour came to light when photographs showed him being registered for by INEC officials in his office in Lokoja, his state capital.
The party leaders who have been at logger heads with the governor made the call at the Abuja home of Senator Dino Melaye on Friday, May 26.
"We will do this because we have a valid point as expressed by INEC", he said.
Sir, it will interest you to know that his Excellency Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello was denied the right to exercise his civil right during the 2015 supplementary election in which he was duly nominated by his party to inherit the vote of late Prince Abubakar Audu.
"This will give the APC electoral deficit in 2019 if we did not separate Yahaya Bello from the APC".
"INEC said it contravenes the provisions of the Electoral Act and that he has committed a crime and because of his immunity they can not prosecute him now". The questions INEC needs to ask itself are: Did the officer (s) of the commission that registered Bello for the second time not know that he had claimed to be a registered voter?
Finally, Sir, it is absurd for INEC to describe the action of Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello as illegal when your office has not been able to meet up to it responsibilities.
The Chairman of APC in Kogi, Alhaji Hadi Ametuo, agreed with Melaye, adding that it was the position of the party.
"Does it mean that INEC has no record of voters in its data bank, thus allowing double registration?"He said the PDP expects that the outright violation of electoral law would not be swept under the carpet, as the Electoral Act adequately prescribes the appropriate penalty for anyone that violates the law. That is our position".
INEC had accused Bello of illegal involvement in double registration for Permanent Voter Card which contravenes the Electoral Act. He argued that the governor had to register again in Kogi, because nothing had come out of efforts to get INEC to transfer his voter's card from Abuja to Kogi.
The INEC national commissioner, and chairman, information and voter education committee (IVEC), Solomon Soyebi, said Bello registered twice - first on January 30, 2011 in Abuja while the second time was on May 23, 2017 at the government house, Lokoja. For the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), INEC has designated a centre in each of the country's 774 local governments areas, including FCT's six Area Councils.
