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From Stanley Uzoaru,Owerri
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Amajirionwu Blyden of the All Progressives Congress (APC), winner of the by-election into Ngor-Okpala state constituency seat of Imo State House of Assembly despite the earlier claim by the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Francis Ezeonu, that the election was marred with irregularities and abduction of INEC ad-hoc staff.
Ezeonu, during a press conference earlier, had expressed anger on destruction and carting away of INEC materials ‘by unknown persons’, and abduction of the commission staff, vowing that the commission will not tolerate such actions.
But, yesterday, the Returning Officer, Dennis Akor, announced the results in Umuneke at the council headquarters.
He said the APC candidate polled 9,248 while Jeff Nwachukwu of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 7,071 votes.
Akor said the total registered voters across the 11 electoral wards in the area was 94,060, and that polling commenced as early as 8:30a.m and ended at about 2:30p.m, noting that all accredited voters with Bimodal Voter Accreditation System cast their votes.
PDP, in a counter press conference, yesterday, allaged the APC intimidated voters with security men as well as manhandling its (PDP) agents, in breach of the new electoral law.
Party Chairman, Charles Ugwu, who made the claim also called for the outright cancellation of the election following the alleged malpractice by APC. Ugwu further challenged INEC to recount their materials to justify their earlier claim of carting away of the commission’s material by APC.
