Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has said the Professor Attahiru Jega led Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, will encounter a credibility and integrity crisis if it fails to declare him winner of the April 11 governorship election.
Ikpeazu, who pulled 248,459 votes against Chief Alex Otti of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, who scored 165,407, argued that with 83, 053 votes ahead of Otti, that he was already a winner and should have been declared winner by the election umpire.
He also said that it was obvious that both the INEC’s Resident Electoral Commission for Abia State, Professor Celina Oko and the Returning Officer, Professor Benjamin Ozumba, did not hide their bias in declaring the Abia governorship election inconclusive where there was a clear winner with a wide margin.
According to him: “The case of Abia State governorship election result will definitely raise so much credibility and integrity questions against Professor Jega and INEC.
“It is unheard of that in an election where the winner has 83,053 votes against loser is declared inconclusive.
“INEC has accepted and announced result from the 17 local government areas of Abia, and I scored 248,459 while Alex Otti got 165,407, which means that Otti has 83,053 votes deficit, instead of declaring me winner, the Resident Electoral Commission for Abia State, Professor Oko, who I later got to understand is a relative of Otti, got a willing partner in the person of Professor Ozumba.
Speaking on the call by Otti for the cancelation of result from Obingwa, Dr. Ikpeazu said: “I do not blame Otti because he lacks the knowledge of the voting strength of each local government area in the state.
“Otti has never bothered to ask why is that since 1999, all the deputy governors that Abia has had are either from Obingwa, Osisioma or Ugwunagbo local government areas. These three LGAs formed the former Obioma Ngwa Local government. These are the most populated LGAs in Abia. And the three LGAs are politically active.
In a related development, a coalition of Civil Society Organisation and Election Observers, yesterday, called for cancellation of the governorship election in four local government areas in Abia State.
The local governments include Obingwa, Osiioma, Ugwunagbo and Isialangwa North.
While giving report on the Abia governorship election, the coalition called for total cancellation of the election as it accused the state government and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of interference and malpractices in the polls.
The coalition led by David Anyaele, of Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, CCD, accused the PDP of thumb printing ballot papers in their homes and snatching ballot boxes.
Anyaele, who urged INEC to redeploy all erring INEC officers found culpable in the controversial election in the state, said: “We demand for total cancellation of the four local government areas, Ugwunagbo, Osiosioma, Obingwa and Isiala Ngwa North; not some polling units or wards in those areas because reports from our teams of observers show there was no election in these areas.”