Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha has expressed confidence that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will issue a Certificate of Return to him as the Senator-elect for Imo West Senatorial District. Okorocha expressed this optimism while addressing State House Correspondents after a private meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. INEC withheld Okorocha’s Certificate of Return after the state’s returning officer alleged he was made to declare the governor winner of the Feb. 23 election under duress. Okorocha has since approached a Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking an order compelling INEC to issue him a certificate of return.
“As it stands today, I am just waiting patiently for the release of my certificate of return for an election that I duly won. And I am hoping that INEC will release my certificate as I have not contravened any section of the constitution, neither have I done anything wrong to warrant the withholding of my certificate. I pray and hope that INEC will do what is just and right. INEC conducted elections, results were declared by the returning officer and I won; only to hear one week later that somebody wrote a petition that he made that declaration under duress; the question is where?
“Was it in his private house or at the collation centre? If it was at the collation centre, members of the SSS were there, policemen were there, as well as international observers and INEC officials. So, who actually put him under duress? The man has not been able to say that; he has never made a statement about that. So I think INEC will want to do the right thing very soon.”
According to Okorocha, he was in the Presidential Villa to request the president to visit the state to inaugurate his many projects. The governor said he had completed the new cargo airport terminal, warehouses and cargo shelves that needed to be commissioned. He said he also completed a new police headquarters and a new prison headquarters in the state. Okorocha said the aforementioned projects were Federal Government projects undertaken by Imo State Government. He also listed other projects to include the Justice Oputa Court and the new Imo State High Court complex.
On the Imo State governorship election, Okorocha said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s candidate Emeka Ihedioha did not win the election as he flouted Section 179 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He said that the returning officer was not fit to be a professor; and should be charged for not respecting the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Okorocha, however, attributed the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s poor performance in the state to the imposition of a candidate by the party’s leadership.
On National Assembly leadership, the governor said that the South-East should be carried along properly for the sake of balance in the politics of the country. According to him, Buhari is a de-tribalised father who treats every Nigerian equally, irrespective of ethic nationality or religion. Okorocha therefore, said it would be unfair for anybody to paint Buhari as a sectional leader.
