Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party
and All Progressive Grand Alliance candidates for
last Saturday’s rerun governorship elections in
Taraba, Imo and Abia States on Sunday kicked
against the results in their respective states.

The candidates- Aisha Alhassan(APC), Emeka
Ihedioha(PDP) and Alex Otti(APGA) told journalists
that the elections in their states were charaterised by
irregularies.

While Alhassan and Otti said they would go to the
tribunal to challenge the outcomes, Ihedioha, said he
would leave the decision on whether to challenge the
result to his party.

Alhassan was defeated by PDP’s Daruis Ishaku while
Otti lost to Okezie Ikpeazu, also of the PDP. Ihedioha,
who is the deputy speaker of the House of
Representatives, lost to Governor Rochas Okorocha
of the APC.

In Jalingo, Taraba State, the candidate told a
news conference that the entire electoral process
was like a “daylight robbery.”

She said, “The governorship election in Taraba State
was characterised by violence, massive rigging, ballot
snatching and abuse of the card readers in
substantial parts of the state by the PDP and their
allies.”

Alhassan contended that results ascribed to Wukari,
Donga, Takum, Sardauna, Zing, Yorro, Kurmi and
some parts of Ussa, Karim-Lamido, Bali, Ardo-Kola
and Lau local government areas were not acceptable
as they did not reflect the true outcome of the
election in Taraba.

Alleging that all the complaints about irregularities
and abuse of the election guidelines were reported to
INEC, she said she would challenge the outcome at
the tribunal.

INEC Returning Officer in the state, Kyari
Mohammed, said Ishaku scored 369,318 votes as
against Alhassan’s 275,984.

Mohammed said there were 1,461,645 total
registered voters in the state, of which 787,516 were
accredited for the election.

He explained that the total valid votes cast were
681,166, while the total votes rejected were 174,131.

The April 11 governorship election in the state was
declared inconclusive due to what INEC described as
widespread irregularities.

In Umuahia, the APGA National leadership claimed
that like the April 11 polls in the state, Saturday’s
exercise was marred by irregularities.

The party’s Chairman, Mr. Victor Umeh, told
journalists that INEC colluded with the PDP to rig
the election in favour of Ikpeazu

He expressed shock that INEC ignored APGA’s earlier
call for the outright cancellation of results from three
Local Government Areas in the April 11 poll but
instead reinstated the cancelled results.

Umeh, who contested and lost the senatorial election
in Anambra State on March 28, said, “The
controversy that was generated by the returning
officer in reinstating the election results he had
cancelled in Obingwa, Osisioma and Isialangwa
North necessitated APGA’s earlier call for the
cancelation of the “ out of the reality figures from the
affected councils.”

He insisted that INEC ought to have sustained the
cancellation of the results from the three councils as
it did in Imo State in 2011.

Umeh alleged that “ even the re- run was held under
incoherent preparations as up till Friday night, details
of polling units remained speculative. “

He said, “APGA rejects the result of the poll as
announced not because we cannot lose elections.

We can accept losing an election through a credible
process. We won the election clearly but our
mandate was stolen.

“Accordingly, we will not resort to self help; we will
challenge the result at the tribunal.’’

“APGA will firmly stand by Otti until he reclaims his
stolen mandate.’’

Umeh called on the President – elect, Muhammadu
Buhari, to probe electoral fraud in the South-East
after his inauguration because “while other parts of
the country are celebrating democracy, INEC used
the zone for an experiment.’’

Otti thanked Abians for “their massive support “for
him, and appealed to them to remain calm and
prayerful as he prepares to head for the tribunal.

He said, “ Election has come and gone but the battle
has just started. Evil cannot prevail over good but if it
seems to prevail, it is only for a while.

“Weeping can only endure for a night, joy comes in
the morning. We will not resort to brigandage
because two wrongs cannot make a right. “

Otti alleged that voters were intimidated and scared
from the polling units by coffins paraded in Aba by
suspected PDP sympathisers on the eve of the
election.

He also alleged that the rerun was fraudulently
cancelled in Umunneochi after it had been listed by
INEC.

The APC candidate, Nyerere Anyim and his
Progressive Peoples Alliance counterpart, Chikwe
Udensi, came third and fourth respectively with
10,244 and 4,381 votes .

Governor Theodore Orji, who welcomed PDP’s
victory at the poll, denied that Ikpeazu was his
stooge.

“I can’t manipulate a person who has a Ph.D. He has
been in government for long and the era of
manipulation is gone. He is intelligent enough to
reject what he does not like,”he added.

He attributed Ikpeazu’s victory to people’s quest for
power rotation.

Orji, therefore, called on those who lost to close
ranks with the winner in the overall interest of the
state.

The Police in the state however denied reports by
some online news portals that there were violent
clashes between the supporters of the PDP and the
APC in Aba on Sunday.

Some of them had claimed that “some angry youths
who felt cheated over the outcome of the poll have
taken to the streets blocking major access roads
leading to the home of the PDP candidate.”

According to one of the reports “PDP supporters
dressed a coffin in APGA flag while chopping off a
fowl head which is a symbol of the APGA”.

Also, while the APC supporters trooped to the
streets celebrating Okorocha’s victory, Ihedioha
alleged that INEC officials conspired to rig the
governorship election in favour of the governor.

He said he was not prepared to congratulate the
winner because the election was marred by massive
irregularities perpetrated by the APC.

He said, “In spite of instances of identified electoral
malpractices, including the arrest of over 25
members of staff of Imo State INEC, who conspired
with the opposition party to manipulate and change
the results of the elections already declared in favour
of the PDP, incident of swapping of PDP votes in
favour of the APC, all of which eroded the validity and
credibility of the exercise, INEC has gone ahead to
declare the APC candidate as the winner.”

However, he maintained that as a law abiding citizen,
he acknowledged the declaration of the results by
INEC. But he added that his party would deliberate on
the details of the result and act appropriately in
future.

Our correspondent in Owerri however saw jubilant
APC supporters wielding brooms and chanting pro-
Okorocha slogans.

They converged on the Government House chapel
where Okorocha was having a thanksgiving service to
congratulate him.

The elated governor dedicated his victory to the
masses of the state who he described as the main
victors of the election.

He said, “I have asked God to bless me so that I can
bless others, I asked him to honour me so that I can
honour others; give me leadership position so that I
can impact on my people. This victory is for them.

“I have redeemed my campaign promises; now my
people can enjoy free education, kidnapping is now a
thing of the past, now it is time for job creation and
setting up of industries. The first beneficiaries
would be my 25,000 youths waiting for employment.
One thousand others will go to Turkey for industrial
training.”

He however appealed to his opponents to join
hands with him to build the state.

“I suffered a lot of campaign of calumny and hate
speeches from my opponents but one thing they
would never say is that I did not work; now I am the
governor of APC, APGA and the PDP; so I call on
them to join hands with me to build this state.”