Rochas Okorocha urges Inec to abandon supplementary poll and declare him winner

IMO State governor Rochas Okorocha has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) to declare him the winner of last weekend's gubernatorial elections in the state despite the poll being described as inconclusive.

In Saturday's elections, Governor Okorocha established a clear lead with 385,071 votes, compared with 306,142 for his nearest rival Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). However, Inec's returning officer for Imo State Professor Oye Ibidapo-Obe, has declared the governorship elections in the state inconclusive because of irregularities in certain areas.

According to Professor Ibidapo-Obe, the elections were inconclusive because the total number of votes in the areas where the election did not take place was higher than the margin between the two leading candidates. Following the cancellation of results from 216 polling units that cut across 23 local governments with about 144 accredited voters each, Inec has insisted that a supplementary election should hold to determine the winner.

However, Governor Okorocha, has urged Professor Ibidapo-Obe, to quickly collate and articulate the remaining results of the election in some polling booths and declare him the winner. He added that this was necessary in the midst of growing anxiety and apprehension arising from the inconclusive elections.

Governor Okorocha has accused Inec staff and the police of collaborating with the PDP to commit monumental electoral fraud to the disadvantage of the APC. He commended the people of the state for their show of support and solidarity before, during and after the elections but enjoined them to remain calm and peaceful, assuring them that their wish must ultimately prevail as they demonstrated at the polls.

Inec now intends to hold supplementary elections on April 25 in Imo, Abia and Taraba States where the election results were all declared inconclusive. Governor Okorocha regretted that a supplementary governorship election had become the in-thing in the state beginning as it happened in 2011.

In addition, the governor advised the PDP in the state to follow the path of President Goodluck Jonathan, who wholeheartedly accepted the result of the presidential election, conceded defeat to General Muhammadu Buhari. He stressed that a re-run governorship election in the state is untenable since he had met the constitutional requirements to be declared winner of the polls.

Furthermore, Governor Okorocha commiserated with individuals who suffered one form of humiliation or the other during the polls and assured that the state government would take steps to remedy their plight. Imo State was one of the states that witnessed violence during the polls, resulting in the loss of life.