By Dennis Agbo

ABAKALIKI— ACTION Congress, AC, gubernatorial candidate in Anambra State’s 6 February  governorship election, Dr. Chris Ngige, has denied the allegation made by state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Josiah Uwazuronye, that his result was inflated by the Electoral Officer for Idemili South LG to the tune of 10,000 votes.

Ngige stated that what obtained was that at the state final collation point, INEC state headquarters in Awka, which also had the benefit of gathering results from the wards and local government areas through wireless before the arrival of Local Government Electoral Officers, and in conjunction with the results collated from ward officials by its State Agent, Mr. Kingsley Eze, signed off the detected anomaly in the results for Idemili South.

In a statement by the Director of Information and Strategy for Ngige Campaign Organisation, Chief Charles Amilo, AC in Anambra said it was constrained in this era of electoral reforms for the 2011 elections to expose Anambra INEC REC, Mr. Uwazuruonye, so that Nigerians will know him for who he is.

Questions  REC’s abilities
Ngige asked Nigerians to decide whether the man was a fit and proper person to be entrusted with the administration of the business of conducting an election in a state.

“The true facts of this situation were that in the recording of the total votes collated from the 12 electoral wards in Idemili South LGA, due to a wrong shift in the decimal places, Action Congress votes were recorded as 17,221 instead of the 7,221 scored by her candidate.

“At the state final collation point, INEC State Headquarters, Awka, which also has the benefit of gathering results from the wards and local government areas through wireless before the arrival of Local Government Electoral Officers, and in conjunction with the results collated from our ward officials by our State Agent, Mr. Kingsley Eze, this anomaly was detected and our agent signed off on it without any hesitation because it conformed to the results from our LG agents for Idemili South.

What went wrong

“Mr. Uwazuruonye announced to the disbelief of everybody present at the collation centre that the 17,221 announced will stand because by the Electoral Act, 2006 section 69, the result, having been announced at the Local Government Headquarters, it was only the tribunal that could upturn it.

“In both the copies of the Form EC8D, i.e state final governorship election result issued to all the candidates, form and the state INEC statement of result sheet produced by the REC’s office and circulated to the media and general public, the figure of 17,221 was maintained but in the addition of total votes scored by the candidates, 7,221 was credited to AC instead of the 17,221 in these two forms.

“So instead of a total score of 70,240 for Action Congress, she scored 60,204, meaning that contrary to his public assertion, he was only double-speaking, saying one thing publicly to give the impression of a law-abiding person but doing another,” the statement read in part.

The Ngige campaign organisation said it was, therefore, shocked and surprised that the Resident Electoral Commissioner would continue in his old pre-election and election day antics of massive deceit of saying one thing and doing another and now exhibiting and saying it in no less a sacred place as in the hallowed chambers of the election petitions tribunal and under oath, more so when he is a lawyer.

It added, “what he is saying is completely at variance with the figures in his own Form EC8D and the local statement of result issued and signed by him as the Returning Officer for the state gubernatorial election.

“These papers have been filed in the election courts. For the avoidance of doubt,  AC and her candidate did not and is not ready to receive votes that are not properly earned.”