The returning officer for the state’s March 18 governorship election, Professor Nnenna Oti, has been challenged by Abia State Governor Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu to name people who intimidated and tried to bribe her while compiling poll results in Umuahia.
He said that the returning officer’s behavior both before and after the election undermined his trust in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Otti, vice chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), in Imo State, asserted that she had been bullied but that she would not submit to intimidation before or during the collation of results in Umuahia, the state capital of Abia.
In a conversation with media in Umuahia, the governor issued the challenge and said that, in light of Oti’s comments following the election, it was obvious that she was there to carry out a “hatchet job” against the PDP in the state.
In addition, he charged Oti of acting in a way that went beyond the impartiality required of INEC employees by joining the victory dance of Labour Party gubernatorial candidate Dr. Alex Otti.
Ikpeazu said that he had voiced some concerns to the INEC officials regarding the returning officer but had been reassured that they had faith in her.
The governor also denied seeing or communicating with the returning officer, accusing her of creating unnecessary controversy.
“I wish I knew who bullied her,” he remarked. She’s been making much too much noise, in my opinion. The primary responsibility of the returning officer is to tally and announce results that have previously been gathered from the wards by the local government. She is unable to alter outcomes because she lacks the authority to do so without actual action.
She seemed extremely thrilled about something, though, as seen by her replies. Whatever the conclusion should not thrill you when you get to that type of stance objectively. However, her participation in the victory dance and her words, which are tantamount to admissions, have exposed the fact that she was just there to carry out a hatchet job. It can be to either accept or reject some outcomes.
I want everyone to know that she is celebrating something against her rights. Despite the fact that I have never met her and do not know her phone number, I am aware that if she came to do the right thing, she has no right to modify anything. She doesn’t even have the right to reject the results because they were produced by the polling places and wards.
Her celebration is regrettable and unworthy of someone who was entrusted with such a level of responsibility, he added.
Ikpeazu further denied claims that the Obingwa Local Government Area interfered with the results’ tabulation. He said that the results from Obingwa LGA were being planned to be canceled, but that the operation had been foiled by local youth.
The governor said that the effort to shift the collation center to Umuahia and the reluctance to collate results at the ward level incensed the local youths.
“I’m not aware of any electoral officer being held hostage in the Obingwa LGA,” he stated. The Abia South Commissioner of Police, who was in charge of the election, was already there when I arrived. The Aba Police Area Commander was also present. There was the DSS. And these senior executives of these agencies accompany themselves to such locations with a retinue of their guys.
The local government’s main office really had an armored personnel carrier with soldiers inside. There couldn’t have been any evidence of hostage-taking of election workers. Because the subject is already before the election petition tribunal, there are restrictions on what I can say.
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