The governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Abia state, Alex Otti, has raised an alarm alleging manipulations of original polling booth results by the ruling People’s Democratic Party during the collation of results at some local government councils across Abia state.
Speaking to newsmen at his country home in Isiala Ngwa Local Government Area of the state, he called on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, to bring the leadership of the electoral body in Abia state to order so they do not subvert the will of the people.
“Virtually all the results that have been uploaded and released, Labour Party won by a landslide.,” Otti insisted.
“Unfortunately, the PDP government has refused to allow some of the results to stand, and they are doing this with the active connivance of some compromised INEC staff and security agencies.”
“The local governments involved are Obingwa where the outgoing governor comes from, Osisioma, Aba North and Aba South where we won overwhelmingly. Obingwa is a very interesting case because, in the majority of the wards in active connivance with INEC, the BVAS was not used.”
Otti further alleged the PDP’s scheme was to flood the collation centre with counterfeit results.
“So they are making efforts to push fake results to the collation centre in Obingwa local government.”
He also called on the Inspector General of Police to intervene as quickly as possible to prevent any breakdown of law and order in the state if the will of the people is subverted.
“I want to use this opportunity to call on the Federal Government and particularly the INEC Chairman to ensure that the right thing is done in Abia State. INEC had indicated clearly that the BVAS will be used for voting in this election and BVAS was used,” he said.
“I expect that any result that is not coming out from BVAS accreditation will not be accepted. So, I like the INEC Chairman to prevail on the REC and all other officials of INEC to give peace a chance and do the right thing.”
