In the Bayelsa governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has refuted claims that “unknown individuals” were used in place of trained ad hoc personnel.

In a statement published on X, INEC was charged with “doing everything within its powers to rig Saturday’s governorship election in Bayelsa for highest bidders”.

The social media account claims that on Friday night, people and members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who had been trained and shortlisted to work as ad hoc workers for the Bayelsa election were unexpectedly abandoned, their identities substituted with that of unknown people and political party members.

“The trained corp members were all instructed to go back to their original locations. Those are APOs 1, 2, and 3. There were no trained APOs at INEC. Only voting materials were taken.

INEC and Professor Mahmood Yakubu have completely destroyed Nigeria’s electoral process and institutions. There is no way out of this”, the statement reads.

However, Wilfred Ifogah, the state’s head of INEC voter registration, stated on Saturday that the report is false.

Those who were successful in the recruiting process, according to Ifogah, were contacted and tented at the different registration area entries (RACs) the night before election day in preparation for deployment to their voting units on November 11.

“I wish to also inform you that the Commission has a methodical approach to the recruitment, training and shortlisting of ad-hoc personnel which it cannot afford to breach or sabotage.

“Lastly, we also advise stakeholders and other citizens to be wary of similar unfounded rumours that are bound to be disseminated by persons whose interest is to undermine the Commission”, Ifogah’s statement said.