Members of the Labour Party in Imo State on Wednesday called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to review the result of the Okigwe North Federal Constituency election which produced Mirriam Onuoha of the All Progressives Congress as the winner.
At a Press conference in Owerri, the state capital, LP chieftains said that INEC aided APC to rig the election which the LP candidate, Chikwem Onuoha won.
A former lawmaker, Jasper Ndubuaku, said that the LP candidate, Chikwem Onuoha, won the election in the federal constituency.
Ndubuaku, said that it was unfortunate that the electoral umpire connived with the APC candidate to write results in seven wards in the federal constituency where elections didn’t take place because of insecurity.
Adding his voice, the LP candidate said that he won the election in the 26 out of the 33 wards in the federal constituency where elections held.
Onuoha called on INEC to review the result and declare him the rightful winner of the election.
He said “this fraud from Princess Miriam and her cohorts is not legally offensive but morally nauseating. How did someone who lost her ward to me score over 30,000+ votes in an LGA that rarely gives candidates 10,000 votes cumulatively since 1999? Moreso , when seven of the wards of the LGA witnessed no election as confirmed by INEC and residents of the areas.
“Even the joint votes for senatorial candidates of the three major political parties in Imo North, made of six LGAs wasn’t up to 30,000 votes. This is unacceptable and in the light of it we therefore make the following prayers:
” INEC to collate results from the four wards election held in Okigwe LGA only, add the scores from declared results in Onuimo and Isiala-Mbano LGAs as they are the only valid and legal results.
” INEC to reject the fake result that was manufactured from where election never held for known security and logistics reasons, and if already admitted, expunge it without further delay.
” INEC to declare me the winner of the election with the lawful votes already collated as member- elect.
” Going by the election guideline, any declaration wrongly made shall be reviewed within seven days. In this regard, we urge INEC to review the erroneous declaration made on February 27, 2023 and declare me, Hon Chikwem Onuoha, as the duly elected candidate in the just concluded Okigwe North Federal Constituency election.
” INEC must undo the error and comply with our request within the next 48 hours to avoid a stable situation from going out of control.
“The National chairman of INEC to call the commission’s REC in Imo State in order to save our democracy and restore the integrity of the commission.
” INEC and the law enforcement agencies to arrest, investigate and persecute those involved in this unprecedented fraud and criminality to serve as deterrent to other violators.
“The Electoral Officer(EO) of Okigwe LGA, Mr Ụzọ Chikwendu, should be arrested, interrogated and made to face the law for aiding and abetting criminality by conniving with the manipulators to mislead the commission to accepting the fake results.”
