By Ken Okonkwo
Like everything for which Ndigbo are highly despised the Governorship election in Imo and Abia States has turned out to be another tales at moonlight. More than seven days after other states of the federation successfully conducted theirs,
the two South Eastern States of Abia and Imo are yet to see the end of the exercise. Rather than outright declaration of results and the emergence of clear winners the Returning Officers, Prof. Ibidabe Obe for Imo State and Prof. Ozumba for Abia State, pronounced the results of the hotly contested governorship election in the areas as inconclusive. The bones of contention in Abia State were votes from Obingwa home town of the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, Osisioma Ngwa, a spillover from the Ariaria APGA driven enclave where Dr. Alex Otti, former Managing Director (MD) of Diamond Bank Plc, and Abia APGA gubernatorial candidate, enjoys strong support and followership and Isiala Ngwa North which like Isiala Ngwa South LGA believes in the consensus choice of PDP candidate Ikpeazu as decided by Governor T.A. Orji, the Ochendo global of Abia State.
When the results from the three afore mentioned LGAs with only Obingwa LGA returning above 80, 000 votes in favour of one of their sons, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, was received, there was stiff protest from the APGA, Collation Agent, Chief Ahamdi Nweke. Nweke had opposed the admittance of the result based on its outrageous figures while a certain International Observer, this time a lady from the U.K. apparently acting the scripts of Dr. (Mrs) Okonjo Iweala, Chief (Mrs) Ojimmadu Nweze and Mrs. Patience Jonathan from Aso Rock gave unassailable evidences and details of cases and incidences of electoral malpractices to support Ahamdi Nweke. She posited with pictorial evidence the fact that there are cases of ballot bag snatching, double thumb printing and mutilation of results which she claimed were prevalent and common. Her argument and position were however contradicted by a certain hand written report from the Abia State Commissioner of Police who stated that since the bulk of the electoral materials meant for Osisioma LGA were recovered from a certain bush where they were dumped and safely kept as exhibit in his office that he is certain election did not hold anywhere in Osisioma and Isiala Ngwa North LGAs. It was difficult however to reconcile the no election at all argument the entire with proof of irregularities in places where the International Observer admitted that election had held. Based on the heated argument, the Returning Officer (RO) relying on the strength of unassailable facts of electoral malpractices, irregularities and allocation of figures adduced by the international observer who appropriated the umpire role, decided on the directly from Abuja and supported by the report of the State Commissioner of Police, that elections never held cancelled the election in the 3 LGAs. The report of the affront angered the Governor of Abia State, Chief T.A. Orji who stormed the INEC office in Abia State and succeeded in persuading the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. Selinah Okoh who was very controversial and partial umpire while in Imo State, to reverse the wholesale cancellation. According to Governor T.A. Orji what should be cancelled are results from areas with proven evidence of violence, or overvoting. Convinced that she and the RO over stepped their bounds, she re-affirmed that election should now hold in those trouble spots in the 3 LGAs of Osisioma, Isiala Ngwa North and Obingwa LGAs. Following her assurance that the cancellation is not outright in the 3 LGAs, the PDP candidate Okezie Ikpeazu commenced celebration of his victory claiming to be leading with a vote superiority of over 83, 000. However, what is outstanding according to APGA are more than 179000 votes with which Dr. Alex Otti believes he still has a chance of securing at least a larger part of these votes to defeat Ikpeazu. However, a vocal Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu’s supporter, Evangelist Ifeanyi Ogele has stated that it will take the entire Boko Haram forces to enable Dr. Alex Otti to defeat Okezie Ikpeazu in a re-run election as the people of Obingwa LGA alone, will not fold their arms or look the other way while the governorship that is very close to their door steps, slips away. According to the Human Right Activist and author; Evangelist Ifeanyi Ogele, the APGA candidate, Dr. Alex Otti should simply toe the established protocol of Goodluck Jonathan by accepting defeat and congratulate Ikpeazu. However in a full page advertorial, one Ukah, writing as the Media and Publicity Director of Dr. Alex Otti’s campaign organization is of the view that his principal clearly and convincingly won the Abia guber election. He challenged the PDP candidate to accept a re-run in the disputed areas if he is convinced that he pulled as much as 80, 000 votes in his home town of Obingwa LGA. Like Evangelist Ifeanyi Ogele a legal luminary in Aba Enyimba City, Chief Theo Nkire had earlier faulted the cancellation of the results from the 3 LGAs insisting that if the results of the disputed booths and wards are subtracted, his client and PDP candidate Okezie Ikpeazu is a clear winner and hence deserves to be declared winner without resorting to any form of supplementary election. The Imo State case scenario is made more laughable with the dubious positions canvassed by the PDP chieftains. Speaking in a channel TV, live programme, Enyinnaya Onuegbu and Dr. Batos Nwadike who wishes to be identified as a former presidential candidate of Peoples Mandate Party (PMP) accused the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha of bribing the REC and all the Returning Officers of the 27 LGAs with N1m each to write the result for him. They alleged that results sheets meant for Sokoto State or elsewhere were used for publishing the Imo State governorship result. Based on their allegations that there was evidences of financial inducements and allocation of figures, including the application of wrong result sheets the PDP leadership through Chief Olisah Metuh called for outright cancellation of the Imo election.
The new twist to the imbroglio was the outburst of the Director-General (DG) of Emeka Ihedioha Campaign Organisation, Barr. Chris Okewulonu who rather than engage in strategies to win majority of the votes in the supplementary election curiously dumped the initial demand for outright cancellation. Presently, Chris Okewulonu is asking INEC to restore all the votes initially credited to Emeka Ihedioha in Ezinihitte Mbaise and Oru East LGAs. This if done, will put Ihedioha at a deadly advantage hence he had called on INEC to declare the PDP candidate winner. Reports from Ezinihitte, Umuodu Mbieri in Mbaitoli and Oru East LGAs however reveal large scale of malpractices by PDP agents. At Umuodu Mbieri, a PDP stalwart was caught trying to join the bus conveying INEC results to a collation centre with a full bag of ballot papers thumb printed for PDP. This ugly situation was replicated in Oru East where the APC agents acting as surveillance stormed an uncompleted building where hired youths were kept to thumb print for PDP at N50, 000 each. The exhibits are still available at police and INEC, offices for proof of massive irregularities. According to a source at Oru East, this was how Senator Hope Uzodinma was rigged in as Senator elect. The same reason they claimed, card readers do not work so they can use manual and multiple thumb printing.
The APC on its part met a stiff resistance at Isiala Mbano. There an attempt to inflate the figures of the election in favour of APC was thwarted by one Obinna Onwubuariri who hired gun men to open fire on those who came to the collation centre with already written and completed result sheets. According to grapevine source, a police orderly was shot dead by the Onwubuariri squad while two men loyal to one of the political juggernants in the area missed death by the whiskers. He was earmarked for elimination by his aggrieved political opponents who pretended to have accepted his leadership. They are receiving treatment at the intensive care units of unknown hospitals. According to allegations from sources at Isiala Mbano LGA, the death of the police orderly has pitched Obinna Onwubuariri, a PDP House of Representatives elect against his political god father who is unhappy that despite supporting him to win, he decided to work against his interest. In all, the PDP chieftains are licking their wounds with 80 year old Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu raising alarm that Okorocha is after his life for claiming his voice was cloned. Okorocha has however challenged them to go to court.
