The candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in last Saturday election for Okigwe North federal constituency in Imo State, Chikwem Onuoha has said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accepted results from six wards in Okigwe local government area where police said election will not hold.
Onuoha told newsmen in Owerri, the Imo State capital yesterday that elections did not hold in 6 wards as directed by the police command over serious insecurity challenges it portends.
Those areas were Ihube Umuawaebu, Agbuobu, Umulolo, Aku and Amuro which were the worst hit by the activities of gunmen and insisted that the security report prompted the commission and the police to exclude them as voting units, and expressed surprise that results were declared for those areas.
He called on INEC to review the declaration of Hon Miriam Onuoha of All Progressive Congress as the winner within 48 hours to avoid the breakdown of law and order by the people.
The visibly annoyed Onuoha said “This fraud from Princess Miriam and her cohorts is not legally offensive but morally nauseating. How did someone who lost her ward to me score over 30,000 votes in an LGA that rarely gives candidates 10,000 votes cumulatively since 1999? Moreso, when seven of the wards of the LGA witnessed no election as confirmed by INEC and residents of the areas. Even the joint votes for senatorial candidates of the three major political parties in Imo North, made of six LGAs wasn’t up to 30,000 votes”, he queried.
Onuoha said “INEC must undo the error and comply with our request within the next 48 hours to avoid a stable situation from going out of control. In this regard, we urge INEC to review the erroneous declaration made on February 27, 2023 and declare me, Hon Chikwem Onuoha, as the duly elected candidate in the just concluded Okigwe North Federal Constituency election.
Further he said “Validating the intelligence of the police, in Ogii ward of the LGA where election was supposed to be held, INEC officers met no one at the polling units as residents were still living in fears. The addition of Ogii makes it seven out of 11 wards that elections were not conducted in the LGA.For record purposes, the other four wards where election was witnessed were: Urban ward 1 and 2, Ezinachi and Umualumuoke wards”.
He explained “As you all know that Okigwe LGA, one of the LGAs that made up our Federal Constituency, has been in the news in recent times for insecurity, no thanks to steady activities of unknown gunmen. This recent ugly development in the LGA was captured in the police security report to INEC on February 20, 2023 and was duly acknowledged by the commission. In the said report, the police advised the commission not to have elections hold in the six out of the 11 wards in the LGA”.
He called for the arrest and prosecution of the Electoral Officer(EO) for Okigwe local government, Mr Ụzọ Chikwendu, for aiding and abetting criminality by conniving with the manipulators to mislead the commission to accepting the fake results.
Further, he called on INEC National chairman to call the Imo state REC to order to save democracy and restore the integrity of the commission, adding that she must not superintend over state assembly elections for the state.
Specifically Onuoha said “Going by the election guideline, any declaration wrongly made shall be reviewed within seven days. In this regard, we urge INEC to review the erroneous declaration made on February 27, 2023 and declare me, Hon Chikwem Onuoha, as the duly elected candidate in the just concluded Okigwe North Federal Constituency election”.
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