The people of Orlu/Orsu/Oru East Federal Constituency of Imo State on Tuesday protested at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Owerri the declaration of Canice Nwachukwu of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the election in the federal constituency.
The people, who protested bearing placards, said no election took place in the federal constituency owing to the insecurity ravaging the area.
They said they were waiting for the arrival of the officials of INEC on the election day but to no avail.
They said they were surprised to read the next day that Nwachukwu of the APC had been returned as the winner of the election.
They called on INEC not to cause anarchy in the area by manufacturing figures to declare Nwachukwu the winner of an election that was never held.
Speaking to journalists, one of the protesters, Ozoemena Agbaka, said he waited till 6pm on Saturday at his polling unit without seeing any staff of INEC.
Agbaka said, “We waited till 6pm without any INEC staff in sight. No election (was) held. There was no explanation. The election was not rescheduled.
“To our dismay, somebody has been declared the winner of an election that (was) never held. INEC should not cause trouble in this country. They should fix a date for our election. We want to vote.”
Another protester, Juliet Chibueze, said it was annoying for the electoral umpire to return a candidate in an election that was not held.
“We (hear) that INEC has declared somebody a winner of an election that didn’t hold in our federal constituency. We are here to register our dismay. In the interest of justice, INEC should fix a date for an election in our federal constituency. We want to vote. You can’t declare somebody the winner of an election that never held. This is a constitutional democracy for crying out loud,” she lamented.
