By Leonard Okachie
The Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Abia, Dr Alex Otti has expressed satisfaction with the suspension of collation of Obingwa Local Government Area (LGA) results.
Otti stated this while addressing his teeming supporters, who had converged on his Campaign Office in Umuahia to felicitate with him.
Otti’s speech is contained in a statement in Umuahia on Tuesday.
It is entitled: “Go in Peace, Do Not Allow Abia People to Rise Against You.”
He told the people that he was confident that INEC would eventually do the right thing.
He stated: “Let me start by thanking everyone who came out spontaneously today, expecting that INEC was going to complete the collation and announce the result.
“Unfortunately, we have received a report from INEC that they have suspended the collation from Obingwa LGA and also postponed the return and declaration, which should have happened today.
“I think it is appropriate that INEC did that.
“If you have followed all the things that have happened since Saturday, it is very clear that Obingwa LGA has turned itself into a terror.
“And it is not Obingwa indigenes or residents.
“It’s actually thugs that were imported from outside Abia.”
Otti stated that beyond holding INEC official hostage, the thugs also “battered one of our LGA agents, Dr George Chidozie.
“He has been in the hospital but we brought him today to show INEC that it was not only their staff that was brutalised but that our own agent was also brutalised,” Otti added.
He urged outgoing Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu “not to set the lives of residents of the state on the path of danger.”
Otti, who is leading the poll with 171,747 votes in 16 LGAs already collated, advised the ruling party, PDP against manipulating the results of the governorship election in Obingwa LGA”.
“I still want to call on this government as it is going out, it should go out in peace.
It should not expose Abia to danger.
“It is not fair, and I believe Abia people will rise up against them, if they continue the way they’re going.
“But I appeal for peace and calm and I know the right thing will be done.
“So, I will appeal that we wait for INEC to complete its job.
“I do not have any doubt that INEC will do the proper thing.
“The unfortunate thing is that the election, haven been won, the ruling party thinks it can upturn it with one out of the 17 LGAs.
“That’s exactly what they did in 2015, but times have changed and unfortunately, they don’t understand that times have changed.”
The LP governorship hopeful described the BVAS as a game changer.
“We have it on good authority that the total number of accredited voters in Obingwa was just a little less than 27,000,” he stated.
He further explained that the two House of Assembly candidates that had been declared in Obingwa had a total vote casts of less than 27,000.
He, therefore, wondered how the 100,000 votes were got in the same election, where the same accreditation produced the house of assembly members.
“Now they are building up the number.
“It used to be 90,000, now it’s over 100,000.
“In their desperation, they forgot that the forged result sheet has a total number of accredited voters at 81,000.
“So, I believe that INEC will do the proper thing.
Reacting to the development, the state Chairman of the PDP, Chief Asiforo Okere said the party was disappointed with INEC’s decision to review the Obingwa “result which has already passed through unit, ward and Local government collation processes”.
In a statement in Umuahia, Okere stated that there were also reports of INEC officials allegedly being held hostage in Ohafia LGA, Umuahia South and Umuahia North, yet INEC accepted results from those LGAs”.
He further stated that there was no security report of any violence in Obingwa to warrant a review of the results.
He described that the review was another grand design to subvert the 2022 electoral guidelines.
“We, therefore, call on INEC to immediately accept and announce Obingwa LGA result as collated,” Okere added. (NAN)
