Okon Bassey in Uyo
Less than 24 hours after the Governorship and State House of Assembly election results of Akwa Ibom were announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state has protested and rejected the result.
The results of the elections released about 12 midnight on Sunday had the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Udom Emmanuel, winning in 30 local government areas of the state, while the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Obong Nsima Ekere, won in one local government area.
The PDP governorship candidate had 519,712 votes to be declared winner in the election, as the APC governorship candidate secured 171,978 votes.
At a press conference held at the APC state secretariat, Ikot Ekpene road, Uyo Monday, the state party Chairman, Mr Ini Okopido, protested the result, describing it as fictitious and a fraud.
He said INEC committed the most embarrassing electoral fraud ever conceived since the return to democratic rule in Nigeria in 1999 by announcing concocted and spurious results of the governorship and state House of Assembly elections.
“The commission, in collusion with the PDP, committed an electoral coup against the people of Akwa Ibom State by publishing and announcing such results that have no bearing with the results as counted and announced at the various units in the state.
“The result of the governorship and state House of Assembly elections in the state, as obtained from our agents across the state, clearly shows that APC won in 26 out of the 31 LGAs of the state.
“Therefore, our party rejects the sham and fictitious result as announced by INEC in Akwa Ibom State, as it was contrived, manipulated and concocted to suit the unholy alliances between the commission and PDP.
“The APC in Akwa Ibom State hereby vehemently rejects the purported results as released by INEC in the state. We call on INEC to recourse to the part of honour to cancel the election results forthwith to avoid any breakdown of law and order,” Okopido said.
Urging members of the party in the state to continue to remain calm and law abiding, the state party chairman vowed that APC shall retrieve the victory freely given to the party by the public through every legitimate means.
Leaders of the APC in the state including Otuekong Don Etiebet, the Senior Assistant to the President on National Assembly matters (Senate) Ita Enang, and the APC governorship agent at the state collation centre, Archbishop Samuel Akpan, also corroborated the position of the party.
They maintained the election was characterised by multiple voting, vote buying, deployment of violence of unprecedented dimension, arson and killings, snatching of ballot boxes and manifest manipulation and non-use of the card reader machines, strategies adopted by PDP to achieve its pre-determined result.
They stressed that INEC collaborated with the PDP to design a rigging system of the election against APC.
