Some candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rejected the outcome of last Saturday’s House of Assembly elections in Imo State. In separate briefings to journalists, PDP candidates from the Nwangele and Aboh Mbaise state constituencies—Solomon Ucheka and Princewill Amuchie—alleged that All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates suppressed and intimidated voters.
Ucheka claimed that in Nwangele Local Government Area the APC candidate, Amara Iwuanyanwu, compromised the electoral process. He said he had won the lawful votes cast, but that the APC candidate, accompanied by security agents, allegedly seized ballot boxes and altered the results. Ucheka has already petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission and the state Commissioner of Police, Muhammed Berde, over the alleged malpractice and intends to challenge the result in court.
In Aboh Mbaise LGA, Amuchie alleged that the APC rigged the election by arresting PDP agents at the LGA collation centre. He warned the public of a “brazen and criminal subversion of the will of the masses” in the recent contest for the Aboh Mbaise State Constituency. According to Amuchie, the election began smoothly, but as it neared conclusion, “hoodlums employed by the member representing Aboh Mbaise in the State House of Assembly, Hon. Eddie Obinna, sent his men to cart and steal ballot papers.” He listed several locations where the ballot papers were taken, including Umunebie Hall Ndigbo Uvuru Booth 011, Central School Amuzu, and others. At Umunebie Hall, an aide of Hon. Eddie Obinna, Hon. Ogechi Ebegu, allegedly arrived with cultists, fired shots into the air to intimidate voters, and, in collusion with the Area Commander of the Nigerian Police (Mbaise Ngor Okpala Area Command), transferred INEC ad‑hoc staff and electoral materials to the police headquarters in Uvuru, where the results were rewritten against the people’s wishes.
Amuchie also cited irregularities at the Group School Lagwa Booth 001 in Lagwa Ward, where the reported figures showed 500 votes for the APC, 100 for the LP, and 10 for the PDP—a total of 700 votes that he described as “miraculous.” At the Local Government Collation Centre, he claimed APC officials attempted to smuggle in a pre‑written result.
Responding to the accusations, APC state publicity secretary Cajetan Duke said the PDP candidates were merely complaining because their attempts to rig the process were thwarted by voters.
Comments are closed for this story.