JOE EFFIONG, UYO
The former commissioner for information in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Aniekan Umanah of the PDP, has finally lost his bid to return the House of Representatives to represent Abak federal constituency for the second term.
This follows his final defeat by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Mr Clement Jumbo who polled a total 22, 225 as against Umanah;s 20, 793 votes at the end of the supplementary election conducted yesterday in the federal constituency.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the February 25, 2023 national assembly election in that constituency inconclusive, even as the APC candidate was ahead with 2962 votes.
While the supplementary election of Abak federal constituency ended peacefully, that of Ikono/Ini federal constituency which also held the same saturday was however cancelled by INEC due to widespread violence..
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Akwa Ibom, Dr Cyril Omorogbe, who disclosed this to newsmen in his office described the rerun in the area as abysmal.
Omorogbe said that the election were cancelled in all the 17 polling units that the rerun took place as a result of snatching of electoral materials, including Bi-Modal Voters Accreditation Machine System (BIVAS)
“The fact that we had about four Local Government Areas where we conducted election and one major one was Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency
“We were there this morning early enough and about 8:30 am polling units were opened. A couple of hours after we opened the polls, I received a call that BIVAS machines were hijacked.
“So, I knew from then that we were in for a tough time. Two hours after that I received another report that was not good. So, the election in Ikono/Ini federal constituency has been cancelled.
“They were fighting all through the local Government Area in the 17 polling units in the area. I received a report from the Collation Officers that suppose to collate the result in the area that election did not hold.
“The whole exercise of those 17 polling units, they were either hijacked, disrupted, people were being chased and other things of that nature.
“From the Collation Officers in the field who were supposed to collate they all came back and have written reports and the result sheets they were supposed to fill are all here. Apparently, there was no election for now.” Omorogbe said.
He expressed regret that the violence led to the shooting of one of the corps members on duty on his leg, and wondered why politicians would be so desperate in a federal constituency election to the extent of shooting an innocent corps member.
“The corps member was shot, he is still in the hospital. We’ve done our best in terms of providing money to make sure he is treated well. I strongly believe he will be okay.
“He was shot on the leg, he has gone through surgery. So far, I do believe he is actually recuperating at this point,” he said.