PDP alleges massive fraud in the Imo bye-election and has called for the cancellation of the election and recount of all the materials and Votes and reconcile them with the BVAS data
By Emma Ogbuehi
The Imo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Council for Ngor Okpala State Constituency bye-election, has rejected the outcome of the Saturday, February 26 poll in the constituency, alleging massive vote manipulation by the state governor, Hope Uzodinma.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) had been announced winner of the election that was largely seen as a proxy war between Uzodinma and the 2019 PDP governorship candidate in the state, Emeka Ihedioha, ahead 2024 governorship election in the state.
In announcing the result, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Amajirionwu Blyden Okanni of the APC the winner against Jeff Nwachukwu of the PDP.
The returning officer, Professor Ameh Dennis Akor, of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi state, announced the results at Umuneke in the Council Headquarters of Ngor-Okpala LGA on Sunday morning.
According to him, Amajirionwu, the APC candidate of polled 9 248 to beat Nwachukwu of the PDP who polled 7,071 votes.
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PDP has however rejected the result, demanding an outright cancellation of the poll and vote recount. In a statement titled, “INEC must save democracy in Imo State”, signed by the chairman of the party in the state, Charles Ugwu, PDP accused Governor Uzodinma of orchestrating electoral violence and tampering of the election materials to favour the APC candidate.
PDP also accused Imo State Commissioner of Police, Hussain Rabiu, of partisanship and complicity in manipulating the election.
The party cited instances of wards and areas in which it alleged electoral fraud. As a way out, it called on INEC to cancel the election and order recount of all the materials and Votes and reconcile them with the BVAS data.
The statement reads:
Gentlemen of the Press, we are compelled to address you once again in view of the unfolding events surrounding the Ngor Okpala State Constituency Bye-election held on Saturday, February 26, 2022.
In the early hours of the Election Day, the people of Ngor Okpala had begun to turn out en masse to exercise their franchise and elect their representative in the Imo State House of Assembly. Unknown to them, Hope Uzodinma and his cohorts had covertly perfected an evil plot to prevent the people from exercising their constitutional mandate.
On the eve of the election, Hope Uzodinma personally mobilized truckloads of security agencies – police, DSS, Navy, Airforce armed thugs and Hopism Strike Force to invade Ngor Okpala LGA and unleashed mayhem on the electorate. These armed group operated freely, maiming, shooting sporadically, abducted staff of INEC and agents of the PDP, carted away electoral materials and result sheets. It was a clear case of declaration of war on the people of Ngor Okpala; a total invasion in one of the freest and fairest elections in the history of the Local Government.
It is pressing to highlight and roundly condemn the partisan and complicit actions of soon to retire Imo State Commissioner of Police, Hussain Rabiu, a known accomplice of Hope Uzodimma. Rabiu led the combined teams of armed thugs, security operatives and Uzodimmas Strike Force that also provided cover for appointees of Uzodinma, members of the Imo State House of Assembly and members of House of Representatives of APC, invaded polling units in most parts of the Constituency leaving many half-dead in the pool of their own blood. CP Rabiu also aided in the illegal coercion of collation officers at private residences and the Sentiero Hotel located along the Airport Road.
In over fifty polling units, out of 193 Polling Units, electoral materials were forcefully carted with INEC ad hoc staff taken to Sentiero Hotel along the Sam Mbakwe Airport Road to thumbprint ballot papers and write results in favour of the APC.
A few of the areas affected by this electoral fraud include:
Ward 1 —008 & 016
Ward 2 —015
Ward 3— 002
Ward 4— 005 and 010
Ward 5 – 002, 006, 011
Ward 6— 001, 003, 007, 008,009, 011
Ward 8— 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 011.
Ward 11—002, 004, 010 & 012 and many others.
It is pertinent to note that there was massive unimaginable intimidation of voters in ALL the booths across the 11 wards of Ngor Okpalla using uniformed policemen attached to the Speaker IMHA and his colleagues who beat up opposition party men and party agents, chased them away and openly engaged in vote buying and inducement contrary to sections 128 (a&b) of the newly signed Electoral Act.
This desperate criminal acts are clearly in contravention of the provisions of Sections 25 to 60 of the Electoral Act as amended.
We therefore condemn in strong terms the unprofessional and anti-democratic conduct of these institutions of state and their agents which is an affront on the integrity of the New Electoral Act.
It is important that Nigerians note the unabetting impunity perpetrated by Hope Uzodinma, illegitimate occupier of Douglas House. It is on record that Uzodinma has in his criminal desperation to assume power in the state, inflicted a very deep cut on our democracy. This time, his antics will fail. This new low, has made it incontrovertible that democracy is imperiled in Imo State, and this cannot be allowed to happen.
We therefore call on the INEC to:
1. Out rightly cancel the Saturday, February 26, 2022 bye-election in Ngor Okpala, as any outcome from such a barbaric invasion and warfare will only reflect the manipulations of Hope Uzodinma and his band of electoral fraudsters, and not the will of Ngor Okpala people.
2. We call on INEC to order an immediate recount of all the materials and Votes and reconcile them with the BVAS data. We further call on INEC to direct its HOD Ops Fidelis Uguru to ensure the security and safety of all the materials and data deployed in the Ngor Okpala bye-election to ensure a thorough recount as any story of loss of material or destruction of materials will be prove ongoing suspicions of compromise by the commission.
3. We call on INEC to take steps to immediately move for the arrest and prosecution of all those implicated in this heist as contained in the Electoral Act and save our democracy both within and outside the state.
This election is a seriously compromised in every detail. We reiterate our call for a total cancellation.