EXPOSED! Akpabio Was Rigged Out - Accredited INEC Observers Confirms
By UbongAbasi Ise
The accredited domestic observers
of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that were deployed to Akwa
Ibom State to observe the just concluded Presidential and the National Assembly
elections have uncovered some irregularities and flaws that might culminated to
the controversial loss of Senator Godswill Akpabio of the All Progressives
Congress, APC, in the Akwa Ibom Northwest (Ikot Ekpene) Senatorial election.
The observers under the aegis
of Coalition of Election Observers in Akwa Ibom State confessed during a press
conference in Uyo Wednesday that they were not empowered to stop the electoral
exercise but to give true account of what took place across polling units in
Akwa Ibom State.
The coordinator of the
coalition, Mr. Luke Okonu, revealed that election results announced by the
Presiding Officers, POs, in Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District had APC emerging
winner with large margin but it turned out to be that the results announced by
INEC were in variance with the true state of the affairs.
“Election announced by POs in
the area had APC as the winner with large margin. If forensic test is carried
out on the election by Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District and other local
government areas in the state, it will be confirmed that results announced by
INEC does not reflect the true state of affairs of the exercise,” the
coordinator said.
Okonu also maintained that in
Wards 10 and 11 in Oruk Anam local government area some voters were not allowed
to participate in electoral process while other polling units in the area enjoyed
free and fair election atmosphere with APC leading in the contest, but INEC
came out with different, contradicting results.
“In places like Ward 10and 11
in Oruk Anam local government area, a particular party supporters and any other
person that was viewed as having sympathy to a particular party were not
allowed to vote.
“In other polling units in
Oruk Anam, elections were free and fair. Base on announcement made by POs at
polling units, we observed that the APC won, but we discovered that the final
result as announced by INEC for the area contradicted what we observed to be
the will of the people,” he said.
According to election
observers’ coordinator, the INEC ad hoc staff in Ibesikpo, Ikono and Abak local
government areas, were observed to be extremely committed to PDP to the extent
of guiding the electorates to vote for the party.
In Obot Akara local government
area, Mr. Luke Okonu decried issues of over-voting which led to the rejection
and cancellation of the result of the area by the returning officer.
Okonu also raised alarm on the
issue of widespread vote-buying across polling units in the state by a particular
political party.
He said elections were free
and fair in Essien Udim local government area until Mr. Sunyiekekere Inokon and
Mr. Imowo Okpopo caused chaos as they attempted to snatch sensitive materials
but were prevented by security agents.
“In Essien Udim, election was
free, fair and credible as we observed, starting from Independence High School
down to other units across the area. At the local government collation centre
at about 1:25 am, there was a little violence which was perpetrated by one Mr.
Sunyiekekere Inokon and Mr. Imowo Okpopo who tried to snatch election results
accompanied with a gang of armed thugs if not for the swift intervention of
security agents who controlled the situation and restored normalcy,” he said.
The coordinator revealed the
situation of poor logistics management where in some polling units, election
materials arrived late, while handful of others units received none.
In terms of security, Mr.
Okonu said some polling units had adequate policing while some had no security
agent.
The coordinator of the observers’
coalition condemned the announcement of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District
election result in Uyo by INEC against the provisions of the Electoral Act,
adding that “this has caused people to doubt the credibility of the umpire in
Akwa Ibom State.”
©The Sensor Newspaper
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