The gubernatorial candidates of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Tony Ejiogu, and the Young Progressives Party, Kemdi Opara have called for the total cancellation of last Saturday’s governorship election in Imo state.
The call is coming a day after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Samuel Anyanywu and that of the Labour Party (LP), Athan Achonu also called for the cancellation of the November 11 gubernatorial election.
The APGA and YPP gubernatorial candidates while interacting with journalist in Owerri on Tuesday, stated their displeasure and described the process that produced Uzodinma as flawed and laced with criminalities.
He said, “The election was a bad precedence set, a charade to say the least. Restiveness, criminality, and violence pervading cannot continue. I maintain that this election has not been held yet.
“Over-voting is a serious issue. The claim that the absence of billboards reason for the loss is preposterous, and does not hold water. I campaigned vigorously. Brain drain and opportunity drain are on the rise in Imo despite a literacy rate of 97 per cent. We cannot afford to continue like this.”
On his part, the governorship candidate of the YPP, Opara said that the “Election was met with brutal apathy, I have contested House of Reps 4 times, how can anyone say that I did not win the Mbaitoli LGA, my LGA, where I was the only guber candidate.
“I’m calling for a cancellation, INEC must redeem itself. Paradigm shift; social media aided campaigns after the ban on billboards. However, the declared results are not a reflection of the situation on the ground.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressive Congress as the duly elected governor of Imo state on Sunday after he scored a total of 540,008 votes and taking a major lead in the 27 local government area of the state, defeating his closest opponent, Samuel Anyanwu of the PDP who scored 71,503 votes.
