.…. CALLS ON INEC TO BE BRAVE, DECLARE PDP WINNER AND SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY
.…. DEMANDS ARREST, PROSECUTION OF CULPRITS
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Imo State wishes to alert the public to the abductions, violence, snatching of ballot boxes, shootings and widespread electoral fraud allegedly sponsored by Governor Hope Uzodinma and his cohorts during the Ngor Okpala State Constituency By-election held on Saturday, 26th February, 2022.
This was contained in a statement signed by Charles Ùgwù on Saturday.
The statement reads, “in a brazen show of force, members of APC, including appointees of the Hope Uzodinma led government, APC members of the Imo State House of Assembly and House of Representatives, invaded Ngor Okpala with a combined team of the Police, Army, Navy, DSS, Uzodinmas militia group, Hopism Strike Force and over seventy buses of armed thugs to unleash terror on innocent voters in Ngor Okpala.
“In that orgy of violence, INEC staff as well as PDP members and innocent voters were kidnapped, while others were beaten to a pulp and left half-dead in their pool of blood. The Gestapo-like manner traversed Ngor Okpala from Umuowa, Umuneke, Imerienwe, Logara and continued to the rest of the wards, leaving in their trail, pain, anguish and destruction like an invading army. They carted away electoral materials and took them into the residences of some APC leaders and to the Santiago Hotels located near the Sam Mbakwe Airport along Owerri-Aba road where they perpetrated the electoral heist. The ballot papers were thumb-printed right in the hotel and results computed.
“It is noteworthy that the candidate of our party, Hon. Emeka Jeff Nwachukwu, was placed under house arrest with armoured tanks stationed in front of his residence at Umuneke while armed thugs shot sporadically to scare away voters from exercising their franchise. But thank God for the undying spirit of the voters who, in most areas defied these intimidation to cast their votes for our party, only for invading army to return at points of collation to snatch results sheets.
“Notorious among the kingpins in this criminality were Amara Iwuanyanwu, Deputy Speaker, Imo State House of Assembly, Chinasa Nwaneri, Special Adviser, Special Duties to Governor Uzodinma; Kennedy Ibeh Speaker, Imo State House of Assembly, Pastor Chike Okafor member, House of Representatives, Miriam Onuoha, Macdonald Ebere State Chairman of APC and Blyden Amajirionwu, one of the candidates of the APC.
“These persons were captured on camera while carting away BVAS machines and other electoral materials at the polling units mentioned below;
THE WARDS/BOOTHS ARE;
Ward 1 —008 & 016
Ward 2 —015
Ward 3— 002
Ward 4— 005
Ward 6— 001, 003, 007, 009
Ward 8— 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 011.
Ward 11—002, 010 & 012
“The barbarity that was witnessed in Ngor Okpala on Saturday could best be described as a new low in the country’s democratic experience.
“The PDP therefore condemns in strong terms, these acts of violence, abductions and electoral fraud by the APC in Imo State.
“We strongly condemn the manipulation and acquiescence of the heads of the security agencies in Imo State, who have allowed themselves to be used to subvert the wishes of the innocent, vulnerable and hapless citizens. The leadership of security agencies in Imo must know that power belongs to the people and must desist from being tools in the hands of illegitimate and desperate politicians who are bent on setting the state on fire for their inordinate political ambitions.
PRAYERS
1. INEC MUST scrutinise and summarily reject results of those contentious polling units where APC agents perpetrated these violent acts were reported.
2. INEC must resist every attempt to induce, intimidate them to lending itself to the obnoxious agenda of denying the people the right of choosing their representatives, in exercise of their democratic rights and civic duties.
3. We wish to call on INEC to demonstrate patriotic bravery and declare our candidate, Hon. Emeka Jeff Nwachukwu, winner of this election. This call is as a result of the evident overwhelming votes cast by the electorate for our party as shown by the legitimate results so far declared.
We commend Professor Chukwuemeka Ezeonu, Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner and the Commission’s staff for resisting these invaders and standing up to the truth. The press conference earlier addressed by the Resident Commissioner aptly captured the entire issues.
We also demand the immediate arrest of all the appointees, allies, associates and agents of APC and Gov Uzodinma who have been identified in the shameful abductions, violence and electoral fraud in Ngor Okpala.
