A political group canvassing support for the Imo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be circumspect of the role of Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) in the November 11, election in the state.

Specifically, the group, Orlu West Senatorial District for Anyanwu 2023, led by Donatus Nwogu alleged that YIAGA is working for the interest of the Labour Party (LP) in the election, disclosing that the election monitoring group is having a close affinity the deputy governorship candidate of LP, Tony Nwulu.

The PDP group also alleged that YIAGA has concluded plans to sway votes in favour of the LP in PDP strongholds across the state.

To achieve this, the election observer group, according to the group, has mobilised personnel and resources across the state, to canvass for votes for the LP.

The intention, as discovered by the group, is to deploy the Parallel Voter Tabulation (PVT) system by YIAGA, in favour of the Labour Party.

The group in a statement signed by Nwogu said it has already informed INEC of the development and calling on the electoral body to act and prevent partisan monitoring groups, including YIAGA from compromising the credibility of the election.

The group said, “We have credible information that YIAGA has a close relationship with the LP in Imo State and as such, the party intends to use this affinity to influence the outcome of the November 11 elections. The deputy governorship candidate of the LP is said to be a friend of one of the promoters of YIAGA and will want to exploit this relationship to influence the outcome of the election in their observation reports and intervention activities.

“The PDP, as one of the strong contenders in the election cannot fold its arms in silence and watch this happen. We have informed the INEC of this development and we are ready to take it further, if INEC does not act on our report”, the source said, adding that “as a political party, we are out to win this election and if one of the observer groups wants to pitch tent with a particular political party, in the course of the conduct of the poll, it is our duty to call them out while seeking further redress by legitimate means.”

The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of the INEC, Rotimi Lawrence Oyekanmi could not be reached for comments on the allegations.

Reacting to the allegation, the Senior Communications Officer of Yiaga Africa, Mark Amaza said, it is not true that Yiaga Africa is working for the Labour Party, or any other party for that matter. We are a non-partisan civil society organisation.

He said: “Tony Nwulu’s affiliation is not to Yiaga Africa but to the Not Too Young To Run Movement, which is made up of up to 100 organisations across the country, as he sponsored the bill to amend the Constitution to reduce the age of eligibility for running for office while he was in the House of Representatives in 2016. While we are grateful to Mr Nwulu for being the sponsor of the bill, it does not translate it into an affiliation with Yiaga Africa, which is just one of the organisations within the movement.