By Victor Nwachukwu
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and other opposition political parties have called for a review and cancellation of the result of Saturday’s Governorship election in Imo.
The parties were unanimous in their reaction to the outcome of the off-circle poll.
They spoke separately in a joint news briefing in Owerri on Monday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the other political parties that joined the call were the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the Young Progressives Party (YPP) and the African Action Congress (AAC).
The Candidate of LP, Sen. Athan Achonu, described the process as “a complete sham and a rape of democracy” and called for an outright review and cancellation of the result.
Achonu, who cited irregularities, including faulty voter accreditation and vote buying, expressed dismay over “the inability of security personnel to protect the ballot“.
He said: “I’m calling on all lovers of democracy as well as Igbo sons and INEC to save our democracy by carrying out a holistic review of the election to satisfy the curiosity of Imo people and Nigerians at large,“ Achonu said.
Also, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu of PDP, thanked Imo residents for coming to cast their votes, in spite of intimidation.
Anyanwu expressed dismay over the alleged compromise of security agents as evidenced in viral online videos.
He said that with a faulty accreditation, over voting became the order of the day, without recourse to conscience and the rule of law.
“In the full glare of security operatives, polling units were overrun with vote buying and hijack of election materials.
“We therefore call for a review and cancellation of the poll.
The Candidate of APGA, Mr Tony Ejiogu, described the irregularities in the election as “a bad precedence to set”, hence the need for a review of the process and its result.
According to him, vigorous campaigns on and off the social media carried out by his party would be in vain, if INEC failed to review the election and the processes that culminated in the announcement of a winner.
Dr Kemdi Opara of YPP said it was “ unbelievable that according to the announced result, he could not win his Mbaitoli Local Government Area.
“INEC must redeem its image.
We need a paradigm shift because the INEC result is not a reflection of the true situation,“ he said.
A PDP stalwart, Mr Mike Ikokwu, expressed worry over evidences of over voting in parts of the state and called on INEC to review the result within seven days as provided by the electoral guidelines
The Chairman of LP in the state, Mr Callistus Ihejiagwa, said that results were uploaded for places where election did not hold, leading to unrestrained over voting, hence the poll should be reviewed.
“A total of 500,000 votes were cast for APC alone as announced by INEC.
“Yet, only about 300,000 persons were duly accredited as evidenced in the server.
“This charade has to be reviewed,“ he said. (NAN)
