The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said Monday that it will take a decision on what to do next about the Imo West Senatorial District controversy over the February 23 general elections.
INEC Chief Press Secretary, Rotimi Oyekanmi, told reporters that the Commission have not issued the district Certificate of Return to any candidate but “will take a decision on what to do next. That decision will be made public when it is taken.”
The senatorial district poll conducted alongside the presidential election on February 23, was contested among 37 candidates including Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha. Okorocha was declared winner of the poll by INEC Returning Officer, Professor Ibeawuchi Innocent. He polled 97,762 votes to beat his closest rival Hon Jones Onyereri of PDP who polled 63,117 votes. Innocent, however, said that he declared Okorocha the winner under duress.
“I declared this thing before under duress; I’m still under duress declaring this one,” Professor Innocent had said before reading out the results at the collation centre in February. “I have been held hostage here for days so I’m trying to ease off and take my life home back to my children and for the sake of that I am calling these results under duress,” he added.
The governor faulted the allegations and accused the returning officer of acting a script. However, Okorocha’s name was not on the list of those to be given a certificate of return and despite his protests against the decision, he wasn’t given a certificate when other senator-elects got theirs last week.
INEC affirmed that it will not present a senatorial certificate of return to Okorocha because the returning officer declared the governor winner under duress. “We’ve made it clear on why we didn’t present any certificate of return to him,” INEC’s National Commissioner, Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, said on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Monday.
“If you look at our website, we said that the declaration and return were made under duress and that we are not going to give any certificate to any person or any individual that procured a return under duress,” he added.
Okorocha said the withholding of his certificate of return by INEC has the potential to stir tension in Imo. The governor, who addressed youths at the State House in Owerri, argued that the move to withhold his certificate of return based on an allegation without hearing his own side of the story was unjust.
