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Phillip Nwosu
A non-governmental and non-partisan group, Pan Imo Diaspora Congress (PIDC), has decried the incessant electoral manipulation and corruption in the state and demanded that the trend must be reversed in the Senator Hope Uzodimma Vs Governor Emeka Ihedioha 2019 governorship election case.
In a letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Chief Justice of Nigeria(CJN), Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mallam Abubakar Malami and National Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, PIDC regretted that in Imo complaints of electoral manipulations have always surfaced after elections such that it becomes doubtful whether the persons usually returned as winners have the true mandate of the electorate.
“PIDC is worried over this recurrent issue of electoral manipulation and corruption in the state since the emergence of the current democratic experience in Nigeria and wants a reverse”, it said.
The group said its members were drawn from the USA, UK and Asia. It recalled that in 2007, despite the decision of the Supreme Court that Ararume was the candidate of the PDP, Ikedi Ohakim of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPP) emerged governor in an election that Ararume challenged up to the Supreme Court on grounds that the election was heavily manipulated by the then PDP government through inducement of INEC electoral officials.
