From Johnkennedy Uzoma, Owerri
The drama of the just concluded March 9th governorship and House of Assembly elections in Imo State has finally come to an end with the declaration of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Emeka Ihedioha, as the governor-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. He polled 273,404 votes from a grand total of 714,355 to defeat his closest rival, the Action Alliance governorship candidate and anointed successor of incumbent Governor, Rochas Okorocha, Ugwumba Uche Nwosu, who scored 190,364 votes.
Candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Sen. Ifeanyi Araraume, and that of All Progressives Congress, APC, Sen. Hope Uzodinma, got 114,458 and 90,458 votes to come third and fourth, respectively.
The declaration of Ihedioha as winner by INEC Collation Officer for the state, Prof. Francis Utonta, was indeed tortuous and harrowing. Going by the results, Ihedioha won in 11 local government areas while Nwosu won in 10. Araraume won only in four, while Uzodinma won in only two.
The official announcement of the winner about midnight of March 12 sent the state to an uncontrollable celebration, with supporters of PDP, especially trooping into the streets of Owerri, removing posters and billboards of other candidates.
On the first day of the collation, being Sunday March 10, a day after the election, there was serious confusion among party agents for APC, AA and PDP, which resulted in the tearing of the result sheet from Ideato South, the home of the outgoing Governor Okorocha because of the outrageous number, which the collation officer for the local government wanted to submit to INEC.
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The resultant crisis led to the disruption of the collation, even as both the collation officer, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, observers, journalists and other people scampered for safety. But the collation of that particular result was suspended, while security operatives pounced on those suspected to have caused the trouble and whisked them away to the Police Command Headquarters where they were detained till the following day when they regained their freedom.
There were allegations of ballot box snatching, violence in various parts of the state, while many political thugs in army and police uniforms were arrested by security agents. It was indeed an election that showed the desperation by politicians to thwart the will of the people.
The role of INEC in the brouhaha has also elicited reactions from the electorate. While some praised the electoral umpire, others criticised it for failing in its duties to conduct credible, fair and fair election in the state.
And going by the reaction of the various political parties in the state, it may not yet be Uhuru for the winner, as many of them have called for the cancellation of the election.
APGA, in its reaction, rejected the outcome of the election and called for its cancellation. The party, through its state chairman, Peter Ezeobi, alleged that the election was marred by monumental irregularities, describing it as the worst election in the history of the state.
The party vehemently rejected the outcome of the election, adding that the disruptive activities of AA and PDP made the outcome fall short of all democratic requirements. They decried the widespread violence across the state, which included killings at Ogbe in Ahiazu Mbaise, the fracas at the INEC state collation centre during which original election documents and result sheets were torn. They accused both AA and PDP of deploying armed tugs and fake soldiers, who invaded several polling booths and carted away electoral materials, which were used to manipulate the results. They equally said that Ihedioha, the candidate of PDP, failed to meet the constitutional requirements of 25 per cent of total votes cast in 2/3 of the 27 local governments in the state.
The chairman said it is unconstitutional to declare a candidate, who failed to meet the necessary requirements winner of election and called for the reversal of the declaration of Ihedioha as winner.
APC Restoration Coalition in its reaction blamed the anti-party activities of Governor Okorocha for the defeat of the party. The coalition, formed to oppose Okorocha’s choice of successor accused the governor of using state resources to destabilise the party in the state.
The spokesperson of the group, Dr. T.O.E Ekechi, said at press conference held at his country home in Imerienwe in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area that the defeat of the party should be attributed to the Okorocha whose activities brought the image of the party into disrepute as well as his anti-party stance.
He said that Okorocha as well as his wife’s inordinate ambition to impose their son-in-law on Imo people, coupled with his “rudderless leadership of perfidy and not paying attention to processes” cost the APC not just the governorship seat but also National Assembly as well as state Assembly positions.
He, however, congratulated Imo people on their typical resolve, resilience, courage, patriotism and sacrifices in characteristically taking their destiny into their hands, adding that “Imo people shunned the lure of stolen billions of Naira from our treasure to stand down a vicious emperor, who was instituting an undeserved dynasty unknown to the republican Igbo culture.”
Ekechi further stated that Governor Okorocha lacked the moral standing to contest a “people’s resolve to save a battered state from the stranglehold of his family”, adding that “he should forget the idea of challenging the matter in court, as that will exacerbate the fury of the badly injured people.”
He advised him to “rather concentrate on the messy task of preparing his handover note while devoting time in this Lenten season to seek the face of God on the very imminence of May 29.”
However, Nwosu, Okorocha’s son-in-lwaw and the AA governorship candidate said that the declaration of Ihedioha as the governor-elect did not meet the constitutional requirement and therefore unacceptable.
He vowed to challenge the results of the election in court, stating that the declaration of Ihedioha was a clear violation of the provisions of the constitution.
Nwosu alleged that he was robbed of victory by INEC and vowed to reclaim his mandate.
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He noted that the electoral body did not comply with the guidelines when it announced the PDP candidate as winner of the election.
He said that the declared winner didn’t meet the constitutional requirement of 25 per cent spread in at least two-third of the number of local government areas of the state where the election was held.
“The law required that to be declared a winner, you have the mandatory spread of 25 per cent win in at least two-thirds majority. In this case, two-thirds of the 27 local government areas of the state is 18 and Ihedioha has 25 per cent spread in only 12 local government areas whereas I have in 15. So, it’s clear that INEC has compromised,” he said.
He said that INEC clearly disregarded its guidelines by recognising the non use of card readers in the three local government areas of Aboh Mbaise, Ahiazu and Ezinihitte, the stronghold of Ihedioha.
Nwosu added that INEC guidelines stated that where a card reader was not used and accreditation used manually, such results should not be recognised, adding that INEC violated its own guideline by accepting the results from the three local government areas.
Nwosu accused the Resident Electoral Commissioner of not using staff of federal institutions in the state, but went as far as Awka, where the vice chancellor is Ihedioha’s kinsman to recruit ad hoc staff, who did the bidding of the VC.
He expressed optimism that the court would give him victory at the end of the day.
And last week, youths from Imo North on a protest to the Government House, Owerri, called for the reversal of the election results.
The youths also demanded as a matter of urgency for a new date for the governorship re-run election between the PDP Ihedioha and Nwosu.
The leader of the protesting youths, Comrade Ezenna Okoro, also demanded that Nwosu be declared governor while One Mr. Emenike be returned as Senator-elect for Imo North because according to them he won the election based on results gotten from the polling units and wards.
While addressing the youths, Okorocha accused Professor Ezeonu of wrecking democracy in the state with the worrisome manner he handled the conduct of the 2019 elections in the state, adding that he has shown that he was brought to the state after the 2015 election to return PDP to power.
The governor said the REC acted illegally by ignoring the provision of the Constitution that makes it mandatory for a candidate to have 25 per cent in 2/3 of the local governments in the state by announcing Ihedioha who only met the requirement in nine local governments instead of 18 LGAs which is 2/3 of 27 LGAs winner.
The governor wondered why the REC should accept the outrageous figures from the three local governments of Mbaise, including Aboh Mbaise, where the PDP candidate had 64,219 votes, stating that the figures from the three LGAs in Mbaise constituted 50 percent of the total votes got by the PDP candidate in a state with 27 LGAs.
He maintained that Uche Nwosu won the election and has the required spread by having 25 per cent in 21 out of the 27 LGAs, and remarked that the REC is working to set the state on fire.
Okorocha also regretted that the REC had become a willing tool in the hands of those fighting him, adding that for the REC to have ignored the Constitutional provision for the announcement of the winner of the governorship election only explains his desperation to announce the PDP candidate winner.
He said, “Coming by the actual calculation, the person that won this election is Ugwumba Uche Nwosu. Uche Nwosu won the election landslide. If you remove the manipulated results from Mbaise, Uche Nwosu won with over 50,000 votes, if you cannot declare him a winner because you have someone already, then they should go for a rerun because you cannot change the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because you want to favour a candidate.”
In his own reaction, the state deputy governor, Prince Eze Madumere has congratulated Ihedioha, describing the outcome of the election as victory for the people of the state.
