21st April, 2015
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has threatened to boycott Saturday’s rescheduled election in the eastern state of Imo over the seeming compromise of the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The party in a letter to the chairman of the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Attahiru Jega, wants electoral officials in the state replaced.
National chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun said the APC may not take part in the election if the commission retains the current INEC team, which he said was “compromised”.
Oyegun said the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Imo State was desperate to manipulate the election by attempting to order new vote in areas where results had already been declared, all in an effort to help the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, win.
“Our position is based on the fact that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Imo State erroneously and perhaps mischievously included areas where elections took place and results were collated, announced, declared and results sheets (Forms EC8A) issued to party agents, including agents of the PDP who signed the results sheets,” the APC said.
The election on April 11 was declared inconclusive by the Returning Officer, Professor Ibidapo Obe, because the margin (79,529) between the frontrunner, APC’s Rochas Okorocha and his contender, Emeka Ihedioha of Peoples Democratic Party, was less than the number of registered voters (144,715) in wards where elections did not hold or were cancelled.
Okorocha had said the supplementary poll was unnecessary as INEC should have considered the number of Permanent Voter Cards in the affected areas, instead of registered voters.
“When you look at the number of PVC collected you find out that there is no need for this supplementary election because the number of PVC collected will be less than the 79,000 votes difference between me and the PDP candidate,” he said. “But now they are basing on the number of registered voters. Number of registered voters do not cast the vote; it is the number of PVC collected that does.”
The APC accused the Imo State electoral officials of complicity in what happened in Mbaise area of the state, where results declared were higher than the number of permanent cards collected.
Oyegun said when the APC agent complained, the Resident Electoral Commissioner and the State Returning Officer merely directed the local government Returning Officer to revise the figures downwards.
Oyegun said INEC officials also connived with the military in Mbaise Local Government Area and some other areas to cart away election materials, with which fictitious results were later written and admitted.
“In the light of the foregoing, we of All Progressives Congress (APC) have lost faith in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials in Imo State in their management of elections and hereby call on the chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to send a new Election Management Team to supervise and conduct the re-scheduled supplementary Imo gubernatorial elections,” the party said.