Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue him certificate of return as winner of the Imo West Senatorial District election in the February 23 presidential and National Assembly polls.

Ruling out possible recourse to the court to obtain the certificate, he said he still had confidence in the integrity of National Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, and his willingness to do the right thing.

He cautioned Prof. Yakubu not to lend himself to those he said were poised to truncate his future political ambition.


The outgoing Imo governor said he was still in the dark as to why the election umpire was withholding his certificate of return after being duly elected in a free and fair election.

He expressed doubts over the source of the power the commission was exercising to withhold his certificate of return.


Okorocha said: “Gentlemen of the press, I’m sure I was conspicuously absent in the certificate issuance ceremony.

“I was not there because INEC has removed my name from the list of senators, having been declared the winner by the zonal returning officer.

“I’m told that my name is no longer there. So, I’m actually waiting to hear why and what was the reason INEC is not letting my name in.

“I think probably INEC must be trying to do something special to give me my certificate because I understand that once result has been declared and you have won, you are entitled to your certificate of return.

“But to have exempted me, and I am in the dark as to the reason I was not invited to collect my certificate of return, maybe INEC wants to organise a special ceremony to handover this certificate to me.

“But clearly I have won, I have won, and it was a peaceful, peaceful, free and fair election. The best you can think of.”


Asked to hazard a guess why he was overlooked by INEC, he said grapevine information had it that he was accused of getting the result by duress which, he said, was a criminal matter.

“Again, I don’t understand what that means because there was nothing of such.

“How can you then put somebody under duress to declare you winner when you have actually won?

“Look, they did not say I didn’t win, they did not say the other gentleman won the election, and we are forcing them to give it to a person who did not win.

“So, I don’t understand why I will be the one doing something wrong forcing someone to give me victory. It is not true.”

Okorocha said the entire episode was a game being orchestrated by some politicians in Abuja working in cahoots with INEC to thwart his political ambition, but he vowed to succeed in the face of the obstacles.

“I think it is game being played here, and I must let the world understand that the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Imo State is playing a script, already written script for a very long time, and the script is so funny, so cruel, and so crude and they are executing it in a very funny way,” he said.

Narrating what happened, he said the collation officer in his election had collated nine local government areas and suddenly changed his mind to continue the process after receiving a phone call, and instead opted to go to Owerri to declare the rest of the senatorial result.

“So, when the young men there (in Orlu) suspected something foul, they said finish it here and there was no quarrel, and the DSS was there, police was there, international observers, agents were there, even the INEC staff from Abuja were all there. It was very peaceful,” he added.

Okorocha, who alleged that the returning officer had been found to be an in-law of the PDP candidate, maintained that the whole game was scripted by persons in Abuja and executed by the Imo State REC.

Against all provocations, he said, he had calmed frayed nerves in Orlu in the hope that justice would prevail.

He, however, asked the commission to, as a matter of urgency, address many electoral infractions noticed during the governorship and state Assembly elections conducted in the state that led to the declaration of PDP candidate, Emeka Ihedioha, as governor and non-declaration of result of polls in Okigwe Senatorial District, which he described as a show of shame.

According to him, some of the shameful conduct of the various players in the election were not something to expose to the world, else Nigeria would become a laughing stock.

Besides his election, he said, the burning issue now was the election in Okigwe Senatorial District which he claimed was won by the candidate of Action Alliance, Emenike, but which INEC refused to declare.

Okorocha, who claimed that the governorship election in Imo was won by Uche Nwosu, noted that the returning officer of the election went ahead to declare candidate of the PDP, against constitutional provision in respect of spread, all in an effort to ensure that he was done in.

He said: “As I’m talking, the image of Nigeria is at stake in Imo State if they hear the dirty things that took place in Imo State in this election.

“You might think we are still in the primitive days, the issue of governorship election. That guy (Ihedioha) never won the election.

“The three local government areas he padded, you cannot become governor with results from three local government (areas) in Imo State.”

Okorocha, who said he had been receiving knocks from a direction, described as laughable his purported suspension from the APC, a party in whose formation he claimed to have played a leading role.

“I’m told that I have been suspended from the party, I am getting bashing from all over.

“I am taking the bullets as much I can take. I am told that I have been suspended. APC that I founded, I’m a major stakeholder, and you can’t count the first ten persons in APC without counting Rochas.

“It is an aberration. Then somebody said I have been suspended from the party, for what offence?

“They keep making the same mistake. If they say they have sacked me, I have sacked them.

“Simply put, there’s a court judgment, we foresee this coming and the exco of Imo went to court and obtained a judgment not order, that the NWC and NEC of the party would have no power, cannot dissolve the present exco unless by the national convention. You went and set up an illegal caretaker committee to try Rochas.”

https://www.akelicious.net/2019/03/okorocha-urges-inec-to-release-his.html

They are really dealing with this man.

Finally this man is a confirmed lunatic

OkoroAwusa

Rochas Okorocha is living his worst nightmare and I'm enjoying it !

This is my stand if this man actually won the senatorial election on feb 23rd on free and fair ground he should be given a certificate of return. Withholding it is just pure witch hunting and this is not good for our growing Democracy.



God bless Nigeria .