From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Candidate of the Labour Party(LP) in the just concluded election for Okigwe North federal constituency in Imo State,Chikwem Onuoha and an Igbo group,the Ohanaeze have appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) look into the results it declared for Okigwe and Orlu zone which they claim was fraudulent.
In a separate briefing by the president of the Igbo group, Igboayaka Igboayaka and Onuoha on Friday ,they alleged that INEC collated results from 6 wards in Okigwe Local Government Area where election did not hold.
Onuoha disclosed that the 6 wards where part of the area captured by the police for election not to hold because of serious insecurity challenges it portends.
According to Onuoha,Ihube Umuawaebu,Agbuobu,Umulolo,Aku and Amuro have suffered the worst heat by the activities of gunmen which he noted prompted INEC and the police to exclude them as voting units.
But surprisingly he claimed that the areas which election never took place had results announced from each of the polling units while the designated polling unit results he also alleged were marred by irregularities.
He said “As you all know that Okigwe LGA, one of the LGAs that made up our Federal Constituency, has been in the news in recent times for insecurity, no thanks to steady activities of unknown gunmen.
“This recent ugly development in the LGA was captured in the police security report to INEC on February 20, 2023 and was duly acknowledged by the commission. In the said report, the police advised the commission not to have elections hold in the six out of the 11 wards in the LGA”. Onuoha said.
Further explaining,he said “Validating the intelligence of the police, in Ogii ward of the LGA where election was supposed to be held, INEC officers met no one at the polling units as residents were still living in fears. The addition of Ogii makes it seven out of 11 wards that elections were not conducted in the LGA.
Same vein,the Igbo group has rejected the results collated in Orlu zone area of Imo State,insisting the results were collated from polling units were election did not hold.
According to Igboayaka “election did not hold in Orsu,Oru East and part of Ohaji Egbema,wonder why INEC declared results in those areas”.