The All Progressives Congress, Peoples
Democratic Party and All Progressive Grand Alliance candidates for
last Saturday’s rerun governorship elections in Taraba, Imo and Abia
States on Sunday kicked against the results in their respective states.
The candidates- Aisha Alhassan(APC),
Emeka Ihedioha(PDP) and Alex Otti(APGA) told journalists that the
elections in their states were charaterised by irregularies.
While Alhassan and Otti said they would
go to the tribunal to challenge the outcomes, Ihedioha, said he would
leave the decision on whether to challenge the result to his party.
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Alhassan
was defeated by PDP’s Daruis Ishaku while Otti lost to Okezie Ikpeazu,
also of the PDP. Ihedioha, who is the deputy speaker of the House of
Representatives, lost to Governor Rochas Okorocha of the APC.
In Jalingo, Taraba State, the
candidate told a news conference that the entire electoral
process was like a “daylight robbery.”
She said, “The governorship election in
Taraba State was characterised by violence, massive rigging, ballot
snatching and abuse of the card readers in substantial parts of the
state by the PDP and their allies.”
Alhassan contended that results ascribed
to Wukari, Donga, Takum, Sardauna, Zing, Yorro, Kurmi and some parts of
Ussa, Karim-Lamido, Bali, Ardo-Kola and Lau local government areas were
not acceptable as they did not reflect the true outcome of the election
in Taraba.
Alleging that all the complaints about
irregularities and abuse of the election guidelines were reported to
INEC, she said she would challenge the outcome at the tribunal.
INEC Returning Officer in the state, Kyari Mohammed, said Ishaku scored 369,318 votes as against Alhassan’s 275,984.
Mohammed said there were 1,461,645 total registered voters in the state, of which 787,516 were accredited for the election.
He explained that the total valid votes cast were 681,166, while the total votes rejected were 174,131.
The April 11 governorship election
in the state was declared inconclusive due to what INEC described as
widespread irregularities.
In Umuahia, the APGA National
leadership claimed that like the April 11 polls in the state,
Saturday’s exercise was marred by irregularities.
The party’s Chairman, Mr. Victor Umeh,
told journalists that INEC colluded with the PDP to rig the
election in favour of Ikpeazu
He expressed shock that INEC ignored
APGA’s earlier call for the outright cancellation of results from three
Local Government Areas in the April 11 poll but instead reinstated the
cancelled results.
Umeh, who contested and lost the
senatorial election in Anambra State on March 28, said, “The controversy
that was generated by the returning officer in reinstating the election
results he had cancelled in Obingwa, Osisioma and Isialangwa North
necessitated APGA’s earlier call for the cancelation of the “ out of the
reality figures from the affected councils.”
He insisted that INEC ought to have
sustained the cancellation of the results from the three councils as it
did in Imo State in 2011.
Umeh alleged that “ even the re- run was
held under incoherent preparations as up till Friday night, details of
polling units remained speculative. “
He said, “APGA rejects the result of the
poll as announced not because we cannot lose elections. We can accept
losing an election through a credible process. We won the election
clearly but our mandate was stolen.
“Accordingly, we will not resort to self help; we will challenge the result at the tribunal.’’
“APGA will firmly stand by Otti until he reclaims his stolen mandate.’’
Umeh called on the President – elect,
Muhammadu Buhari, to probe electoral fraud in the South-East after his
inauguration because “while other parts of the country are celebrating
democracy, INEC used the zone for an experiment.’’
Otti thanked Abians for “their massive support “for him, and appealed to them to remain calm and prayerful as he prepares to head for the tribunal.
He said, “ Election has come and gone
but the battle has just started. Evil cannot prevail over good but if it
seems to prevail, it is only for a while.
“Weeping can only endure for a night,
joy comes in the morning. We will not resort to brigandage because two
wrongs cannot make a right. “
Otti alleged that voters were
intimidated and scared from the polling units by coffins paraded in Aba
by suspected PDP sympathisers on the eve of the election.
He also alleged that the rerun was fraudulently cancelled in Umunneochi after it had been listed by INEC.
The APC candidate, Nyerere Anyim and his
Progressive Peoples Alliance counterpart, Chikwe Udensi, came third and
fourth respectively with 10,244 and 4,381 votes .
Governor Theodore Orji, who welcomed PDP’s victory at the poll, denied that Ikpeazu was his stooge.
“I can’t manipulate a person who has a
Ph.D. He has been in government for long and the era of manipulation is
gone. He is intelligent enough to reject what he does not like,”he
added.
He attributed Ikpeazu’s victory to people’s quest for power rotation.
Orji, therefore, called on those who lost to close ranks with the winner in the overall interest of the state.
The Police in the state however denied
reports by some online news portals that there were violent clashes
between the supporters of the PDP and the APC in Aba on Sunday.
Some of them had claimed that “some
angry youths who felt cheated over the outcome of the poll have taken to
the streets blocking major access roads leading to the home of the PDP
candidate.”
According to one of the reports “PDP
supporters dressed a coffin in APGA flag while chopping off a fowl
head which is a symbol of the APGA”.
Also, while the APC supporters trooped
to the streets celebrating Okorocha’s victory, Ihedioha alleged
that INEC officials conspired to rig the governorship election in favour
of the governor.
He said he was not prepared to
congratulate the winner because the election was marred by massive
irregularities perpetrated by the APC.
He said, “In spite of instances of
identified electoral malpractices, including the arrest of over 25
members of staff of Imo State INEC, who conspired with the opposition
party to manipulate and change the results of the elections already
declared in favour of the PDP, incident of swapping of PDP votes in
favour of the APC, all of which eroded the validity and credibility of
the exercise, INEC has gone ahead to declare the APC candidate as the
winner.”
However, he maintained that as a law
abiding citizen, he acknowledged the declaration of the results by INEC.
But he added that his party would deliberate on the details of the
result and act appropriately in future.
Our correspondent in Owerri however saw jubilant APC supporters wielding brooms and chanting pro-Okorocha slogans.
They converged on the Government House chapel where Okorocha was having a thanksgiving service to congratulate him.
The elated governor dedicated his victory to the masses of the state who he described as the main victors of the election.
He said, “I have asked God to bless me
so that I can bless others, I asked him to honour me so that I can
honour others; give me leadership position so that I can impact on my
people. This victory is for them.
“I have redeemed my campaign promises;
now my people can enjoy free education, kidnapping is now a thing of the
past, now it is time for job creation and setting up of industries.
The first beneficiaries would be my 25,000 youths waiting for
employment. One thousand others will go to Turkey for industrial
training.”
He however appealed to his opponents to join hands with him to build the state.
“I suffered a lot of campaign of calumny
and hate speeches from my opponents but one thing they would never say
is that I did not work; now I am the governor of APC, APGA and the PDP;
so I call on them to join hands with me to build this state.”
The Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole,
has condemned the sale of honorary awards by some Nigerian universities
to individuals of “questionable character.”
