OPPOSITION PARTIES PROTEST RESULTS DECLARED BY INEC IN EBONYI

REPORTER: AMECHI ODO

Some party supporters have marched to INEC Headquarters in Abakaliki to protest against what they described as massive manipulation of results to deny their candidates the victory they secured in the polling units.

The supporters, who carried placards with inscriptions: “no to rigging” and “the power of the people is greater than the people in power” chanted, ‘’count our votes.’’

Addressing journalists, the leader of the group, who is also the Labour Party Candidate for Abakaliki and Izzi Federal Constituency, Mr. Emmanuel Eze, explained that they were at INEC headquarters to register their grievances over the refusal by collation officers to compute and announce their results as secured in the polling booths.

The situation was the same inside the State Collation Centre as Senator Sam Egwu representing Ebonyi North District led other candidates to storm the venue to protest alleged manual computation of results and connivance of collation officers with their paymasters just to deny them victory.

Dr. Vitalis Nwanne, who contested Ikwo and Ezza South Federal Constituency, on the platform of the PDP and Senator Ama Nnachi, who contested Ebonyi South District election as well as Chief Lazarus Ogbeh, who contested Ebonyi Central Senatorial election, were not left out as they took turns to reject the outcome of the polls in their areas.

Other candidates, who were at INEC headquarters to register their grievances, included Chief Linus Okorie, who alleged that election did not hold in about 15 wards with about 15,000 registered voters yet the Returning Officer went ahead and declared Governor David Umahi the winner of the Senatorial election.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Mrs. Onyeka Ugochi, in her response assured them that INEC would re-verify all the results from the polling units to address the alleged irregularities.

Mrs. Ugochi had before the protest march threatened to order the re-computation of any local government result that did not tally with the uploaded polling unit results.

EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU