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…Says, INEC allocated votes to APC where no election held
The Labour Party candidate for Okigwe North Federal Constituency, Imo State, Chief Chikwem Onuoha has called for the immediate review of the result declared for the February 25 House of Representatives poll held in the area.
Onuoha who said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Imo state deviously allocated votes to the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate in places INEC did not conduct any election, maintained that the Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Sylvia Agu, with her partisan linkages, was in bed with the ruling party and was ab initio, unfit to be an electoral umpire in the state.
He said the arbitrary allocation of votes to the APC candidate who did not win one ward in the three council areas that make up the Constituency, is provocative and an assault on the sensibility of the people of Okigwe North.
Onuoha who expressed his disappointment with the Commission while briefing journalists in Owerri, Wednesday, described the result announced for the election as the height of criminality.
He said the people of the constituency, some of who also accompanied him to the briefing, numbering over 200, have given the Commission 48 hours to activate the process of reviewing the result or face the wrath of the people.
Onuoha, who insists that he won the election landslide, alleged that figures were manufactured and allocated to political parties in areas the election did not hold.
He said: “Election did not hold in seven out of the 11 wards of Okigwe L.G.A., owing to a security report and this is common knowledge to everybody in Imo state. I was leading by far from the elections held in Onimo LGA and Isiala Mbamo LGA which make up the Constituency, before figures were concocted for the seven wards where election did not hold and over 30,000 votes awarded to the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Princess Miriam Onuoha. This goes beyond electoral politics, this is pure criminality.”
Onuoha therefore demanded that INEC should collate only the results of Isiala Mbano and Onuimo local government areas, as well as the four wards of Okigwe LGA where elections were held and declare him winner of the contest.
According to him, the validly collated results show that he won by landslide in the areas where the election took place.
Onuoha added: “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.
“NEC must undo the error and comply with our request within the next 48 hours to avoid a stable situation from going out of control.
“The National chairman of INEC should call the commission’s REC in Imo State to order to save our democracy and restore the integrity of the commission in Imo.
“Furthermore, INEC and the law enforcement agencies should immediately arrest, investigate and prosecute those involved in this unprecedented fraud and criminality, to serve as deterrent to other violators of our electoral law.”.
