NationalMirror Declare PDP winner of Oguta re-run, senator tells INEC GEORGE OJI July 5, 2013 • Danger signals ahead 2015 –ACN The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has been told to declare the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, winner of last week’s rerun election in the Oguta state constituency of Imo State. The senator representing Imo West Senatorial District of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, said this while fielding questions from journalists at the National Assembly yesterday. INEC had earlier declared the election, which was conducted last Saturday, inconclusive because it was marred by wide scale violence. The electoral umpire also condemned thuggery, intolerance and violence exhibited by politicians during the poll. This was as the Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, said INEC’s failure to successfully conduct election in Oguta state constituency was a cause for concern. But Uzodinma said PDP led in the results announced by INEC for the wards where elections held peacefully. He said PDP polled 7,585 votes to APGA’s 7,241. The lawmaker said at the start of the election, the conduct was orderly and peaceful except in Osemeto Ward which was taken over by “government thugs and hoodlums”. Uzodinma alleged that mid-way into the election and apparently sensing impending defeat, the APGA- led state government unleashed thugs and hooligans on all the wards in Oguta Local Government. He said the security agents rose to the challenge and were able to contain the thugs in many of the wards, while election continued in those wards. The lawmaker added that following the sheer impudence of the thugs in Osemoto and Egbuoma/ Ekwe wards, election could not take place in all the booths in the wards because the electoral officers and ad-hoc workers fled and abandoned the booths. He said: “To the chagrin of many observers, a few minutes after the show of shame in these wards, well known government officials stormed the INEC office in Oguta with results for the wards where election did not hold.” INEC is already making necessary arrangements to conduct election in the outstanding polling units. The electoral umpire said it was concerned about adequate security to insulate the process against disruption or interference by thugs and politicians. But in a statement, the Lagos State spokesman of the ACN, Joe Igbokwe, wondered how the electoral umpire could cope with a national election if it was unable to conclude a by-election for a House of Assembly seat in a day. He said: “The present concocted stalemate over the outcome of the by-election in Oguta state constituency in Imo State demonstrates the dangers Nigeria faces in 2015 if the collated results of just a single state Assembly election are subjected to such drama as we are witnessing at present.”
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 10:18:43 +0000