Abia North: Ohuabunwa tells INEC to withdraw Orji Kalu’s certificate of return

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Abia North: Ohuabunwa tells INEC to withdraw Orji Kalu’s certificate of return

The senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the February 25 national assembly election in Abia North, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to withdraw the certificate of return issued to the incumbent Senator Orji Uzor Kalu of the All Progressive Congress, APC.

Ohuabunwa who made the demand Tuesday, during a press briefing at his Umuahia residence, alleged that Kalu was not the true winner of the poll as the election did not hold in so many wards and polling units in the zone.

“Orji Uzor knows he did not win that election, and he cannot win if the free and fair contest is held.

” Why did INEC not upload results from polling units if they want us to believe it was credible? Why was collation done without recourse to BVAS? Should we continue deceiving ourselves?”

The former Leader, of the ECOWAS Parliament, argued that the total number of registered voters in the Arochukwu/Ohafia federal constituency alone was over 60,000 which was far higher than the margin of win.

According to him the outcome of the election could be altered if voters in the polling units election did not hold were given the opportunity to vote.

Alleging foul play and compromise, Ohuabunwa demanded the immediate arrest and prosecution of the Returning Officer for returning Kalu when a rescheduled election in the disenfranchised units had not been held.

He argued that the Returning Officer could not claim not to know the implications of declaring somebody a winner in an inconclusive election.

The PDP candidate explained that INEC had acknowledged that election did not hold in over 100 polling units including an entire four political wards in Ohafia, and announced a date for return in the affected areas when suddenly the Returning Officer declared Kalu winner.

He contested that it was wrong for INEC to disenfranchise innocent voters in the affected units for no fault of theirs.

Ohuabunwa alleged that the late arrival of voting materials in most parts of Abia North particularly his strongholds was deliberate and intended to reduce his votes.

He also expressed annoyance that INEC resorted to the manual collation of results instead of transmitting results from polling units via the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, as earlier assured by the electoral umpire.

Ohuabunwa who said he had formally petitioned INEC, urged the electoral umpire to cancel the senatorial election and conduct a fresh poll in the zone to avoid unnecessary tension.

“What INEC did in Abia North was no election but a rape of democracy. If it is not corrected before the next election it will be a bad signal “.

Similarly, the immediate -past Secretary to State Government, SSG, Dr Eme Okoro, called for outright cancellation of the senatorial election in Abia North, describing it as a charade.

He accused INEC of displacing incompetence and scamming the people with BVAS which they said would be a game changer.

He expressed total disappointment that the 2023 election had turned out to be the worst in the electoral history of the country despite the huge expectations.