Despite trailing by more than 79,000 votes, with a near-impossible chance of upturning the
deficit in the results of the
governorship elections so far
announced by the Independent
National Electoral Commission, the
Peoples Democratic Party in Imo
State has said that its candidate,
Emeka Ihedioha, is on course to
victory.
The Imo State Returning Officer,
Ibidapo Obe, had declared the
election inconclusive and announced that a supplementary election will hold in some wards across the state because the number of cancelled votes (144,715) was greater than the margin (79,529) between the two
leading candidates.
The PDP, however, insists that Mr.
Ihedioha “scored a majority of the
popular votes cast by the Imo
State electorates”. Speaking to journalist few hours after the election was declared inconclusive, the Chairman of PDP in the state, Nnamdi Anyaehie, said results collated by the party’s agents at wards and local government collation centres shownthe party’s candidate was leading. Mr. Anyaehie said there were widespread “manipulations, thuggery, harassment and intimidation visited on the electoral process, INEC officials and the voters”. He said the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state indulged inbwidespread ballot box snatching, claiming that the Deputy Governor, Eze Madumere, was a chief culprit.
He also accused the incumbent governor of “cajoling, intimidating
and threatening assigned officials
of INEC in their duties”. Mr. Anyaehie also faulted the Returning Officer for reducing the score of the party’s candidate in Ezinihitte local government.
But PREMIUM TIMES can reliably confirm that the result from Ezinihitte was recalculated after
it was discovered that the total number of votes cast as reported by the local government collation officer surpassed the total number of registered voters by over 20,000.
Mr. Anyaehie also complained that Emmanuel Opara, the electoral officer of INEC in Oru East,
publicly confessed that she was kidnapped and taken to a secret location where she was force to enter fictitious results.
He said the PDP will take appropriate steps to reconcile the results of areas affected by irregularities and will seek necessary redress. He called on the party’s supporters and Imo people to remain calm and peaceful while these issues are resolved.
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