The party expressed dismay at this development, claiming that it is part of the electoral umpire's scheme to rig the results in the APC's favor.
One of the prospective voters, Mr. Madu, identified himself as a Labour Party member and expressed surprise that the Pu staff who had previously been deployed to the voting center this morning had been replaced.
When contacted, Chibuikem Diala, the spokeswoman for the Labour Party's candidate for governor of the state, said that INEC was acting uniformly throughout the state.
He claims that the campaign organization learned that individuals who had not participated in INEC's training were being used to run the election, and that the legitimate PU officers who had already received training from INEC were being dropped at the last minute.
According to him, "The Senator Athan Achonu Media Center wishes to alert security agents and patriotic INEC staff, especially those sent from outside Owerri for this election, about plans already concluded to compromise the BVAs for use by the RATECH team in today's election."
According to trustworthy information obtained from several LGAs in the Owerri Federal Constituency, the technical team there has discussed plans to provide some of the ad hoc staff members incorrect passwords for this election.
"This clever scheme was specifically discussed in the Owerri Municipal and Owerri North Local Government Areas, where the Head of the RATECH team came to the conclusion that arrangements were being made to provide incorrect passwords to PO, particularly those assigned to polling places with high voter turnout. The insider claims that the directive is to make sure that a portion of the BVAS at the polling units malfunction.
The intention is to either fabricate a result or obstruct the voting process in certain regions where the vote-riggers are not heavily represented. This is disgusting and shameful.
"Every booth and ward agent, together with voters, should hold the RATHEC Team accountable, not the POs, in cases when the BVA's password is incorrect due to compromise. We further implore all POs to report this illicit activity wherever it is discovered.
"The agents, as well as every Imo voter, must oppose this and demand that the right action be taken.
"The opposition parties can never accept this, so we vehemently condemn this evil plot and call on the INEC Commissioners who we have been informed were seconded to the state to ensure a free, fair, and smooth exercise to forestall this."
"We ask that before criticizing a procedure that is intended to produce favorable results, the head of the RATECH team in the Owerri Federal Constituency and all other LGAs be forewarned.
In order to prevent corrupted INEC employees from causing a problem during this election process, we also charge security personnel.