PPA faults Ohuabunwa’s victory in Abia rerun poll

The opposition Peoples Progressive Alliance (PPA) yesterday faulted the declaration of Senator Mao Ohuabunwa as winner of the Abia North senatorial district rerun election.

PPA’s national chairman, Mr. Peter Ameh who addressed reporters in Abuja described the way and manner Ohuabunwa was declared winner of the poll as ‘a clear case of day light robbery’ of the mandate of the people of Abia north senatorial district.

The PPA chief asserted that the mere fact that officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had to reverse itself after declaring the rerun poll which pitted former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu and Ohuabunwa as inconclusive was a clear indicator that the credibility of the poll had been compromised.

The PPA chief while crying foul of the decision to declare Ohuabunwa winner recalled that a similar case played out in the recently held Kogi central senatorial rerun poll where PPA’s candidate,  Alhaji Nurudeen Abatemi lost in controversial circumstances a few hours after the election was initially declared inconclusive by INEC.

Saying PPA was solidly behind the initial declaration that the Abia north senatorial rerun poll which presupposes the need to conduct a fresh election, he hinted that the PPA may be forced to take INEC to court over what he termed “the shoddy and unjust” handling of the poll.

According to him: “The national working committee of the PPA strongly disagree with and reject the result of the Abia north senatorial rerun election announced by 1. 45pm on 6/3/16.

“We state that it is indecorous to announce one result in the morning and another in the afternoon.  We believe that the decision of the returning officer, Dr. Ojike Nwankwo at 7am on 6/3/16 at Ohafia collation centre to cancel the results of some polling units in Ohafia and Arochukwu local governments for irregularities and declaring the election inconclusive thereby, is correct, fair and even handed.

“We state that what happened later same day is a product of compromise and arm twisting.  INEC having done its duty fairly and correctly in the morning should never have allowed itself to be prevailed upon to shift ground.  We call on INEC to revert to the 7am declaration of the result as inconclusive by affirming the cancellation of the controversial polling units in Ohafia and Arochukwu local governments. “