CUPP protests, as INEC declares APC winner of Ngor Okpala state constituency bye-election
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Mr Blyden Okanni of the All Progressives Congress (APC), winner of last Saturday’s Ngor Okpala State Constituency bye-election in Imo State.
This is just as the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), has called for a total cancellation of the Ngor Okpala bye-election in Imo State over alleged intimidation and harassment of the electorate.
INEC Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Dennis Akoh, who announced the results in Owerri, Sunday, said that Okanni polled 9,248 votes to defeat his closest rival, Mr Emeka Nwachukwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 7,161 votes.
Akoh, a professor at the Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwor (FUNAI) in Ebonyi, said the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr Christopher Nwaiwu placed third with 501 votes.
He said out of the 11 candidates that contested the by-election, the only female and candidate of the National Rescue Movement (NRM), Mrs Joy Nze, got 15 votes.
The returning officer said a total of 18,083 voters were accredited for the poll, out of a total of the 94,118 registered voters in the area.
He said the total valid votes cast were 17,280, while 582 votes were rejected.
Before polling commenced, it was reported that INEC would disqualify the APC from the election for fielding two candidates for the same poll following the listing of Mr Blyden Okanni and Lawrence Achinihu for the election.
Meanwhile, feacting to the declaration of the APC candidate as winner of the election, CUPP in a statement by its National Spokesperson, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere called for fresh poll.
“The best thing for INEC is to cancel the entire Ngor Okpalla Election given the madness and attempt by Gov. Hope Uzodinma to rape the will of the people and visit his political 419 on our democratic process again.
“Powers contained in the New Electoral Act must be tested and used to cleanse the attempt by Uzodinma to dirty our electoral process and rape the will of the people.
“It’s painful that a few hours after Nigerians applauded Buhari for signing the Electoral Act, Uzodinma has embarrassed the President by visiting mayhem on the people and messing the law up.
“The law must be used to tame Uzodinma by canceling the entire process to help rebuild confidence,” the statement read.
