The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that it will resume the collation of the Abia State governorship election results. The collation process was suspended on Monday due to allegations of infractions, especially over-voting in some areas. While fewer than 27,000 voters were accredited in Obingwa by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) allegedly polled over 100,000 votes from the council. The main opposition Labour Party is already leading with over 92,000 votes from the declared results of 16 out of 17 LGAs in the state. The opposition party has alleged that the ‘mystery figure’ was cooked by the ruling party.
The Presiding Officer and Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) Professor Nnenna Oti; and the State Administrative Secretary, Clement Oha, who were invited to the INEC headquarters Abuja, over the controversy from the Obingwa results, will be returning to the state to complete the process. While results from 26 LGAs had been formally declared at the INEC Collation Centre, the Obingwa result was yet to be presented when the directive from INEC headquarters in Abuja came for the exercise to be halted.
There is tension in Abia State since the controversy started with protests and growing calls among residents for INEC to declare the winner of the contest and not allow the will of the people to be subverted. INEC has assured stakeholders that it is committed to conducting a free, fair, and transparent election in Abia State. The commission has also urged all parties to abide by the rules and regulations governing the election and to avoid any actions that could undermine the integrity of the process.
