Abia guber poll: INEC denies distorting  election result, says report fake

Obiora Ifoh, Abuja

 

The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has denounced an online report accusing its Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu of attempts to violate its guidelines and consequently distort the Governorship election result in Abia State.

 

Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi said the only communication sent to the State Returning Officer was the commission’s directive suspending further collation of results.

 

He said; “The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu never called the Returning Officer to give her a directive. Rather, the Returning Officer wanted the official communication on the Commission’s decision to suspend the collation of results in Abia State. The Chairman then directed that pending the delivery of the hard copies, the soft copies of the Commission’s letter be forwarded immediately to the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Enugu State and the Administrative Secretary of Abia State.

 

“The Returning Officer for Abia State then directed that the contents of the letter be read aloud by the Administrative Secretary in the presence of agents of political parties, observers, the media and security personnel at the Collation Centre.

 

“This is what is now being mischievously interpreted as a directive to the Returning Officer on some phantom criteria at variance with the approved guidelines. There is nothing like that.

 

“In fact, the content of the letter is basically the same as the Commission’s Press Release dated Monday 20th March 2023 which has since been uploaded to the Commission’s social media platforms and is already in the public domain.

 

“The public should disregard the story as fake news”, said Oyekanmi.

 

A portal, Strenuous Blog, had quoted the Returning Officer as alleging that she was being forced to do the wrong thing.

 

According to the portal; “The INEC Presiding Officer In Abia State Nnenna Oti had this to say…’I’m Professor Nnenna Oti from Afikpo. I am the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology Owerri, The people’s mandate shall stand. I have spent all my adult life in pursuit of the ideals of good governance. We shall stand by the these principles. The pastor in me (she is a Pastor with the RCCG) and the mother in me will not permit me to do anything that will adversely affect the future of our children. I shall do right by God and by man!’

 

“Then to the shock and surprise of everyone in the hall, she said that the INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, personally called her and gave her directives on guidelines to follow in ensuring that Abia governorship election results were collated based on some criteria but that on her own she has decided that the will of Abia voters would not be subverted under her watch.

 

“At that point, she asked the Administrative Secretary to read the message she said that came from the INEC headquarters Abuja”.

.Otti hails INEC’s suspension of collation

 

The Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Abia, Dr Alex Otti has expressed satisfaction with the suspension of  collation of Obingwa Local Government Area (LGA) results.

Otti stated this  while  addressing his teeming supporters, who had converged on his Campaign Office in Umuahia to felicitate with  him.

Otti’s speech is contained in a statement  in Umuahia  on Tuesday.

It is entitled: “Go in Peace, Do Not Allow Abia People to Rise Against You.”

He told the people that he was confident that INEC would eventually do the right thing.

He stated: “Let me start by thanking everyone who came out spontaneously today, expecting that INEC was going to complete the collation and announce the result.

“Unfortunately, we have received a report from INEC that they have suspended the collation from Obingwa LGA and also postponed the return and declaration, which should have happened today.

“I think it is appropriate that INEC did that.

“If you have followed all the things that have happened since Saturday, it is very clear that Obingwa LGA has turned itself into a terror.

“And it is not Obingwa indigenes or residents.

“It’s actually thugs that were imported from outside Abia.”

Otti stated that beyond holding INEC official hostage, the thugs also “battered one of our LGA agents, Dr George Chidozie.

“He has been in the hospital but we brought him today to show INEC that it was not only their staff that was brutalised but that our own agent was also brutalised,” Otti added.

He urged outgoing Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu “not to set the lives of residents of the state on the path of danger.”

Otti, who is leading the poll with 171,747 votes in 16 LGAs already collated, advised the ruling party, PDP against  manipulating the results of the governorship election in Obingwa LGA”.

“I still want to call on this government as it is going out, it should go out in peace.

It should not expose Abia to danger.

“It is not fair, and I believe Abia people will rise up against them, if they continue the way they’re going.

“But I appeal for peace and calm and I know the right thing will be done.

“So, I will appeal that we wait for INEC to complete its job.

“I do not have any doubt that INEC will do the proper thing.

“The unfortunate thing is that the election, haven been won, the ruling party  thinks it can upturn it with one out of the 17 LGAs.

“That’s exactly what they did in 2015, but times have changed and unfortunately,  they don’t understand that times have changed.”

The LP governorship hopeful described the BVAS as a game changer.

“We have it on good authority that the total number of accredited voters in Obingwa was just a little less than 27,000,” he stated.

He further explained that the two House of Assembly candidates that had  been declared in Obingwa had a total vote casts of less than 27,000.

He,  therefore, wondered how the 100,000 votes were got in the same election, where the same accreditation produced the house of assembly members.

“Now they are building up the number.

“It used to be 90,000, now it’s over 100,000.

“In their desperation, they forgot that the forged result sheet has a total number of accredited voters at 81,000.

“So, I believe that INEC will do the proper thing.

Reacting to the development, the  state Chairman of the PDP,  Chief Asiforo Okere said the party was disappointed with INEC’s decision to review the Obingwa “result which has already passed through unit, ward and Local government collation processes”.

In a statement in Umuahia, Okere stated that there were also reports of INEC officials allegedly being held hostage in Ohafia LGA, Umuahia South and Umuahia North, yet INEC accepted results from those LGAs”.

He further stated that there was no security report of any violence in Obingwa to warrant a review of the results.

He described that the review was another grand design to subvert the 2022 electoral guidelines.

“We,  therefore, call on INEC to immediately accept and announce Obingwa LGA result as collated,” Okere added.

 

.Save Abia From Bloodbath NBA Tells INEC

 

Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to quickly declare the results of Abia State governorship election held on Saturday to avoid bloodbath in the state.

 

Similarly, Abia State human rights and pro- democracy groups have called on the INEC to save the state from avoidable crisis by resolving the logjam over the March 18 governorship election.

 

NBA Chairman, Umuahia branch, Jasper Ejimofor who made the call during a press conference in Umuahia, said that available evidence from INEC indicated that the Labour Party candidate, Dr Alex Otti, won the election, hence, he urged the electoral commission to declare him winner without further delays.

 

Ejimofor who read from a prepared text said:”We have noted with sadness, the controversy surrounding the 18th March 2023 Abia Governorship election and wish to state as follows.

 

 

”As a professional body desirous of ensuring justice, unity, peace and stability of the State, we cannot stand aloof at this point in time, especially when it is obvious that there are moves to trample on the democratic rights of Abians and prevent them from having the person they have unanimously voted for as their go up.

 

“The overwhelming evidence emanating from INEC indicates that the Labour Party Governorship candidate, Dr. Alex Otti has won the governorship election with a very wider margin.

 

” Since INEC has already declared 16 LGAs and The LP candidate is leading with over 90,000 votes, and the remaining LGA of Obingwa has less than 27,000 accredited voters as captured in INEC’S data, there are no justifiable reasons why INEC should continue to delay the declaration of Otti as the winner of the election.

 

 

“That the delay in declaring the true winner of the election is causing unnecessary tension in the stat, and this tension could snowball into serious crisis and breakdown of law and order.

 

“We therefore enjoin INEC to declare Alex Otti of Labour Party as the winner of the Governorship election to save the state the avoidable disaster that is looming.

 

“We also call on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the INEC National Chairman, the National Body of NBA, NUJ, Civil Society groups, Heads of Security Agencies and other respected citizens and institutions to entertain and prevent the bloodbath this could lead to.”

 

Similarly, the Rights groups in a press statement, noted with dismay that INEC State Returning Officer, Resident Electoral Commissioner and other actors in the commission “are being pressured to admit the bloated results from Obingwa LGA of Abia state”.

 

The statement was jointly signed by the State Coordinator Congress of Civil Society Groups Abia Chapter, Comrade Damian Ogudike; President, Abia Stakeholders Forum (ASF),

Comrade Nwogu Chukwudi; and the Convener, Abia civil society network on Equity & Justice(ACSNEJ), Comrade Nanna Nwafor.

 

According to the Rights Groups “incontrovertible evidence from the outcome of the polls has shown that the majority of the people of Abia State spoke in loud voices with their votes on whom they want to represent them in government starting from the Presidential/ National Assembly polls till last Saturday when they re-echoed their stance once more by ensuring they vote credible persons in House of Assembly and in various local government results for the governorship elections.”

 

They called on INEC “to resist any form of pressure or inducement in accepting the evidently flawed results procured from a particular Local Government Area”.

 

” INEC should save the commission and its agents from public odium and disgrace with its attendant consequences which may literally set Abia State on fire”, the statement said.

 

Continuing it said: “Tension is building up already across different parts of the state by the restive youths who are not taking chances these days in allowing their mandate to be stolen by any political actor or parties.

 

“The desperation to take power by hook or crook being exhibited by some forces leaves much to be desired while those who read the signs of the present times don’t need any prophet or seer to tell them that things have changed.

 

“It is our unshaken position that input legitimacy should not be toyed with at any time in the democratic process as the process through which a public official emerges into public office is very much vital as to also what the public person does in office after getting power.

 

“Subverting the peoples’ will in a brazen manner and resort to the provocative slogan “If not satisfied, go to court” will not be accepted anymore in Abia State.

 

 

” The people deserve the kind of a leader they gave their consent to, through the democratic process of voting and no more shall they be deprived of this their guaranteed democratic rights.

 

“To do the contrary poses serious danger to the society and we implore INEC and other desperate politicians to avoid setting Abia state on fire by their actions or inactions. Let the outcome of the final result be a reflection of the wish of the electorates who braved all odds to come out and exercise their franchise” the right group stated.”