By Christiana Ekpa
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in last Saturday’s governorship election in Enugu State, Mr. Frank Nweke has rejected the declaration of Barr. Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the winner of the polls.
Nweke, who came third in the election, behind Barr. Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party, said the exercise was fraught with irregularities.
While describing the election as an assault on democracy, the APGA candidate said he would explore all legal means to ensure that a legitimate government is put in place in the state.
He said the election witnessed a multitude of infringements on the people’s democratic process democratic and an assault on their desires and hope for a great state.
Nweke accused both the PDP and LP of engaging in vote-buying the elections, alleging that votes were bought for as low as N2,000 and a plate of rice.
He ruled out any form of congratulatory message to the winner of the election.
“I often said during my campaign that I would offer my congratulations and best wishes to whoever emerged in a fair and transparent manner. This election was far from fair and certainly, not transparent.
“The violence, thuggery, intimidation, use of divisive sentiments, and the weaponization of poverty against our people, which the Peoples Democratic Party deployed in the course of the campaign and the elections reflect the desperation of the Party to hold on to power against the will of the people. It was never about service or the good of ndi Enugu; and the impunity with which these wicked acts were carried out is sickening.
“Very early in the morning of Saturday, March 18, town criers travelled through several communities in Enugu state ordering anyone who would not vote in favour of the People’s Democratic Party to stay home.
“The House of Assembly candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance for Udenu Constituency was attacked and almost killed on the morning of the election, while five polling units within his jurisdiction were cordoned off by police and military officers,” he said.
He further alleged that “at various polling units across the State, PDP thugs, party members, hired criminals and some compromised members of the police and military threatened voters at polling units and chased those who could not be bought over or intimidated into voting for the PDP.
“In Nsukka, voters recorded and reported gunshots at polling units allegedly instigated by the Labour Party.
“The most vulnerable and impoverished became prey to vote buying by the People’s Democratic Party and the Labour Party with as little as N500 or packets of noodles in some places.
“At Udenu, both parties competed for the votes of our people with N2,000, a plate of Jollof rice, Okpa, and a bottle of soda.
“I feel ashamed that this is what our people are worth to some who seek to lead them.”
He claimed further that the PDP also secured the assistance of the INEC agents to rig the election, offering cash or issuing threats as the situation demanded.
“Only a few polling unit agents uploaded their results directly on IREV as provided by INEC, and fake result sheets were used to rewrite and manipulate the results of vote counts at the polling units before the falsified results of the elections were uploaded to the IREV. Some of these result sheets are also completely blurred on the portal.
