THE November 11 off-cycle governorship election in Imo state leaves in its trail a winner who took all and dissatisfied losers who have vowed to challenge the outcome in court.
Concerns over insecurity had been predicted to mar the election, with the activities of the secessionist group – the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Eastern Security Network (ESN), seen as threats to the poll.
The election recorded pockets of violence in Orlu. Low voter turnout was a key concern, as some questioned the credibility of Nigeria’s electoral system, with elections largely being determined by the courts.
“Nigeran democracy is now from the courts, by the courts, and for the courts. If courts are determining our elections, how can our electoral system grow? Even with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), we’re yet to get it correct,” a graduate cab driver, Eustace Dike, told our correspondent in Owerri.
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Another voter, Amarachi Ukatu, a point of sales (PoS) operator, told The ICIR that the 2023 general elections made her lose confidence in Nigeria’s electoral system.
” No, I won’t vote; after standing in the sun for long, politicians will do their thing,” she said.
Registered voters and data
According to the state’s electoral data published on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) portal, the state has 2,419,922 registered voters, of which 2,318,919 collected their permanent voter cards (PVCs).
The state has 305 registration areas and 4,758 polling units (PU). However, 38 of the PUs have no registered voters.
18 candidates participated in election but exercise was a three-horse race
Although Governor Hope Uzodimma has been re-elected for the next four years. according to INEC, which announced the results, findings by The ICIR showed the election was a three-horse race among the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP).
According to the final list of candidates published in October by INEC, 18 candidates were cleared to participate in the poll.
They are Uchenna Okere of Accord (A), Jack Ogunewe, Action Alliance (AA), Ifeanyi Awulonu, African Action Congress (AAC), Otumbadi Okoroma, African Democratic Congress (ADC), Steve Nwoga, Action Democratic Party (ADP), Goodhope Uzodinma of the ruling (APC), Anthony Ejiogu, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and Chibuike Edoziem of Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
Others are Obieze Achilike of Action Peoples Party (APP), Isaac Iwuanyanwu, Boot Party (BP), Nneji Achonu, Labour Party (LP), Ben Ofunzeh, New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Cole Okwara, National Rescue Movement (NRM), Samuel Anyanwu, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Ishiodu Uchechukwu, People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Bright Ekwebelem, Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chino Opara, Young Progressives Party (YPP) and Andy Chibuike of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
All the candidates were male. Also, only two of them had female running mates, Ihuoma Ekomaru (APC) and Ogechi Ottih (ADP).
How labour’s feud with state government nearly marred exercise
On October 30, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) vowed to ground activities in Imo state from November 1 to protest the alleged violation of rights and privileges of the state workers.
The NLC president, Joe Ajaero, alleged that the state government had not paid some workers for 20 months.
However, governor Uzodimma said the labour union leader was an interested party in the election and was pursuing the LP’s agenda in the election.
On Wednesday, November 8, Ajaero was reportedly picked up from the Imo council secretariat of the NLC in Owerri by heavily armed Police officers while leading workers protest against the government.
The NLC said Ajaero was beaten and blindfolded immediately after security operatives arrested him.
However, the Police command in the state said Ajaero was not arrested but was taken into protective custody to avoid being lynched by a mob.
The dispute between the NLC and the state government led to a power outage in the entire state, as the state union body responded to the assault on its leader by shutting down power stations.
The ICIR reported the power outage while the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), in a statement on Thursday, November 9, said the persistent power outage in the state was a fallout of strike action by the NLC, which it said was beyond its control.
Opposition parties reject Uzodinma’s victory
The PDP and LP in the state rejected the election results that produced Uzodinma as the winner.
The parties described the elections and declaration of results as a sham.
According to INEC, Uzodinma won in all the 27 local government areas in the state.
Declaring him the winner, the state’s INEC returning officer, Abayemi Fasina, said the APC candidate pulled 540,308 votes to defeat his PDP’s rival Anyanwu, who garnered 71,503 votes, while the LP candidate won 64,081 votes.
Other results in the election are as follows: A (Accord) 1,017, AA 5,756, AAC 537, ADC 3,178, ADP 2,947, APM 328, APP 306, BP 617, LP 6,4081, NNPP 1,062, NRM 344, PRP 265, SDP 717, YDP 1,175, and ZLP 805.
The PDP’s publicity secretary, Ikenna Onuoha, confirmed to The ICIR that the party rejected the election results.
He said his party would challenge the results in court.
He alleged that over 200 polling units where PDP won were ‘criminally’ cancelled.
“You know there was no election yesterday. The purported election was a sham. We have rejected the election in its entirety. The PDP won in over 200 polling units, and the votes were criminally cancelled. We are going to court to seek redress and recover our mandate,” he said.
Similarly, the LP’s secretary in the state, Bright Ofurum, said the party ‘completely’ rejected the results.
“We will make our further position known to you on this devastation and brutality we went through in various local government areas of Imo state. We will put them together, and I will get back to you,” he stated.
Also, the deputy governorship candidate of the NNPP at the poll, Godstime Chibuike, told The ICIR on the phone that there were conflicting figures in the BVAS and figures announced by INEC. He said the party, with other parties, had approached the tribunal to seek redress.
“There are conflicting figures. The portal is showing different results from accredited voters. We have approached the tribunal and sought justice. Let the tribunal tell us the implications of the contradictory figures,” he said.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.