As the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) prepares for a rerun election in some polling units at the nine local government areas in Abia state, a socio-political group known as South East Progressives Assembly(SEPA) has berated the South West chapter of Ohaneze Ndigbo for ‘being driven by sentiment to campaign for the All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA) and its candidate Dr. Alex Otti’
In a statement titled ‘Ohaneze Ndigbo: APGA In Disguise’ jointly signed Ebere Uzoukwa and Comrade Munonye Maximus, President and Secretary of SEPA that was made available to newsmen, the group maintained that Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) won the Abia governorship election having defeated his closest rival, Dr. Alex Otti of APGA with 83,053 votes.
The statement reads: “One of the most prominent social-cultural groups in the South East geo-political zone – Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo is beginning to lose its credibility by approbating and reprobating on the pages of some National Dailies over the outcome of the Abia state Guber election which the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) declared inconclusive.
The south west zone of the organization in a recent publication claimed that the guber candidate of the All Proessive Grand Alliance (APGA) – Dr. Alex Otti won the election with majority of the votes cast. In another breath, Ohaneze called for fresh guber polls in Abia State through a publication credited to its national publicity secretary – Okpalaukwu Okpalaezeukwu on the ground that the election in Abia State was marred by gross irregularities and unprecedented rigging.
“The organization which always claims to be a non-political is now being driven by sentiments to campaign for APGA. They are now sponsoring publications capable of destroying its reputation and further dragging the image of the Igbo nation to the mud.
Evidently, a careful consideration of the positions taken by now the pro-APGA group shows that there is no iota of truth in their publications but a calculated attempt to mislead the good people of Abia State and the general public.
“First, INEC did not declare the APGA candidate – Dr. Alex Otti as the winner of the election and neither did he score the highest number of votes as purportedly claimed by the Ohanaeze. It is apparently on record from INEC source, both in the printed and electronic media that Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu of PDP took the lead with 248,459 votes while Dr. Alex Otti managed to pull only 165,406 votes. What then is the basis for claiming that the APGA candidate won the election when in actual fact Dr. Ikpeazu of the PDP defeated Dr. Otti with 83,053 votes?
It is very unfortunate that the group that prayed for a declaration of Dr. Alex Otti as the winner of the election is also the same group that called for fresh guber poll in Abia state on ground of electoral malpractices. This calls for a POSER! Does it mean that Ohanaeze wants INEC to declare someone the winner of an election which they already knew was also characterized by irregularities and unprecedented rigging? They can not be speaking from both sides of their mouth. Obviously, their publication is a product of sentiment and natural hatred on the candidacy of the PDP candidate – DR. OKEZIE VICTOR IKPEAZU”.
