The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Dr Alex Otti, has rejected the result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which gave the victory to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, saying he would stop at nothing in ensuring that the mandate of the people was not stolen.
Addressing journalists on the announcement at his campaign office on Sunday, Otti said, “I will stop at nothing to ensure that the mandate the people of Abia gave me not just as a person but as a change agent will not be stolen.”
Otti also condemned the manner in which INEC conducted the election saying that as at Friday evening the venues for the election had not been made known to the party. He accused the commission of aiding the ruling Peoples Democratic party in rigging the election.
Said he: “I have never seen an organisation that performs its duties as disjointed as INEC did."
He also alleged that the commission cancelled the rerun in Umunneochi without recourse to the party.
The APGA candidate also wondered why INEC stood on the cancellation and reversal of the result from three local government areas, which the Returning Officer said was based on incontrovertible evidence of irregularities, saying, “I know that INEC has a lot of questions to answer.”
He expressed confidence at getting justice at the tribunal “and because we are standing on the part of justice, we must get justice.”
Otti said that the election had opened his eyes to the evil and rot in the state.
“What we have is criminals in power and we must do something to stop it, I am committed to eradicating the rot in this state.”
Otti described as a rape of democracy the barging of the governor into the collation center with PDP big wigs on the March 29 saying no one could explain the pressure the Returning Officer must have been put through that forced him to reverse the cancellation.
Earlier national chairman of the party Victor Umeh decried what happened in the South East during the election as disheartening.
According to him, “It is only in the South East that ad hoc staff were appointed by politicians/candidates to conduct elections, we reject the result as announced, we cannot lose election where the process is transparent.”
Umeh said the party would challenge the outcome at the tribunal, because according to him the mandate was stolen through the infraction of INEC.
He said that with the process already preset by INEC everyone knew what the final outcome would be
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