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Okorocha petitions INEC over withholding Certificate of Return

By Abisola Olasupo
02 May 2019   |   6:29 pm
The outgoing governor of Imo State Rochas Okorocha said some "powerful members" of his party the ruling All Progressives Congress have conspired with the Independent National Electoral Commission to deny him the Imo central senatorial certificate of return. "Upon a deeper enquiry, I found out that my plight was politically-motivated by some powerful members of…

The outgoing governor of Imo State Rochas Okorocha said some “powerful members” of his party the ruling All Progressives Congress have conspired with the Independent National Electoral Commission to deny him the Imo central senatorial certificate of return.

“Upon a deeper enquiry, I found out that my plight was politically-motivated by some powerful members of my own political party,” Okorocha said in a petition to INEC on Wednesday.

“The All Progressives Congress(APC) with whom I have had political differences in the past are the ones working hand in glove with members of the opposition Imo state in a desperate bid to undo me politically,” he added.

INEC refused to issue a certificate of return to Okorocha after the returning officer for the State’s presidential and senatorial election Francis Ibeawuchi claimed he declared Okorocha winner under duress.

But Okorocha argued in his petition that if there were issues with the election after the announcement of a winner, INEC is not in power to withhold the certificate except a tribunal asked to do so.

He affirmed that national chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomole, before and after the election has been meeting with the Commission’s chairman to carry out their plans to whisk him out of politics.

The governor further stated that the Commission’s refusal to issue him the certificate is a bid to prevent him from contesting for the position of deputy senate president which might aid his presidential ambition in 2023.

“I have not committed any offence to warrant this conspiracy and undue harassment being unleashed on me and my family by those who see me as their political opponents- in active connivance with the commission,” Okorocha said.

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