The Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party and other opposition political parties have called for a review and cancellation of the result of Saturday’s governorship election in Imo State.
The parties were unanimous in their reaction to the outcome of the poll.
They spoke separately in a joint news briefing in Owerri on Monday.
The other political parties that joined the call were the All Progressives Grand Alliance, the Young Progressives Party and the African Action Congress.
The LP candidate, Senator 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.
Mr 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 am calling on all lovers of democracy as well as Igbo sons and the 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.’’
Also, Senator Samuel Anyanwu of the PDP thanked Imo residents for coming to cast their votes despite intimidation.
Anyanwu expressed dismay over the alleged compromise of security agents as indicated in viral 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 hijacking of election materials. We therefore call for a review and cancellation of the poll,’’ he stated.
On his part, the APGA candidate, 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 the electoral commission 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 chief, Mr Mike Ikokwu, expressed worry over evidence of over voting in some parts of the state and called on INEC to review the result within seven days as provided by the electoral guidelines
The state Chairman of LP, Mr Callistus Ihejiagwa, said that results were uploaded for places where elections 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)
