A group of Abia chieftains, under the protection of the Ukwa Ngwa Elders and Ukwa Ngwa Professionals, has decried that state’s governorship election were falsified.They alleged “the intransigence of the Independent National Electoral Commission officials in attempting to manipulate the outcome of the April 11, 2015 gubernatorial election in Abia State in favour of a candidate”.
The group during the press conference in Lagos on Friday, April 17, wondered how a set of officials can organise polls into two offices in one location, under the same circumstances and announce the outcome of one as fair and valid, and another decisive.
Emmanuel Adaelu, the leader of Ukwa Ngwa Elders, while asking Attahiru Jega, the chairman of electoral commission, to interfere and save Abia from a crisis that might change the hard earned good reputation of the electoral umpire, supposed that some INEC officials have personal interests in the gubernatorial poll and shouldn’t have been entrusted with deciding on a case of personal interest to them for the sake of upholding the principles of natural justice.’
He said: “The returning officer in the election, Prof Ozumba is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, UNN, a university that just conferred an honorary doctorate degree on Alex Otti, the gubernatorial standard bearer for the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, while the resident electoral officer, Prof Okoh is the same contestant’s cousin. INEC ought to have considered these peculiar relationships in appointing officials to manage the gubernatorial election in Abia State’.
The ongoing situation, the community leadership repeat, is menacing the peace in Abia state as youths are being restrained by the elders from demanding, forcefully, the announcement of the guber results conducted on April 11, 2015.
He claimed that his people have implicit confidence in the INEC and retain hopes that the umpire will do the right thing as had been done in other states with similar cases as Abia such as Rivers and Akwa Ibom.
“We have restrained the youths from taking the law into their hands by assuring them that INEC under Prof Jega will do the right thing and release the results as there is empirical evidence that demonstrated probity. This is our belief. We call on Prof Jega to do what is right and order the immediate release of the Abia gubernatorial result, knowing that the State House of Assembly election that held at the same time with the gubernatorial election has been released,” Adaelu added.
An outstanding member of the group, and a former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, said Abia people had decided to cry out for justice by filling an official appeal at INEC with the facts of the matter well laid out.
The petition said: “From the results collated from the 17 Local Government Areas of the State, Dr Victor Ikpeazu of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, is leading his closest rival, Dr Alex Otti of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA with more than 83,000 votes.
The leaders enjoined Mr. Jega to listen to the yearnings of the people and order an immediate release of the result of the Abia guber election in the interest of equity.
The group accused Mr. Otti of plotting to scuttle the wishes of the Abia electorate so as to force himself on Abia State as governor.”
It should be mentioned that the electoral commission has fixed the Abia state governorship poll re-run for April 25, 2015.
Meanwhile, re-run election were disrupted in Nasarawa while political thugs opened fire at polling centre
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