From Mba Nnenna- Abakaliki
The Candidate for Ezza North/Ishielu Federal Constituency of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Barrister Emmanuel Nwite has accused his rival in All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Joseph Nwobasi of encouraging electoral irregularities including “vote buying and result falsification”, in the last Saturday election in his Ezza North council area of Ebonyi State.
Barrister Nwite who made his feeling known Monday in a press conference at Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, expressed dismay over the alleged irregularities which trailed the House of Representatives election on Saturday in some polling units in his constituency, particularly Ezza North local government area.
He condemned the antics displayed by his opponents in some polling units, especially in the Ezza North Local Government Area of the State where the alleged winner of the House of Representatives election, Chief Joseph Nwobashi hails from.
The PDP House and Representatives candidate declared that the election held in his constituency on Saturday 25th February 2023 alongside the presidential polls was characterized by irregularities.
Nwite, who hails from Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, said that the election went successful in his council area, the collation centre of his constituency.
He observed that the results from the polling units in Ishielu were later moved to the local government collation centre, but expressed disappointment at how the results from the Ezza North council area which he expected many votes in his favour were hijacked by his rival, in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Joseph Nwobasi.
Nwite explained: “We waited throughout Saturday till Sunday afternoon when the result was not forthcoming, I had to move to Ezza North LGA, to know why the result for the council was not coming and I was shown what is called result.
“But it was obvious that the result from Ezza North LGA was not free, fair and credible. This is because there was no accreditation in Ezza North LGA, in some of the polling units, like the Umuezeoka ward, there was no accreditation because the BVAS didn’t work.
“But we all know that where BVAS didn’t work, the INEC ad-hoc staff should call the EO or his/her superior, that they didn’t do and they adopted manual accreditation, allowed voters to thumbprint ballot papers and produced results.
“The APGA candidate there, Joseph Nwobasi, because he is from Oshegbo, the INEC staff, allocated greater figures to him. The INEC has not declared the results, because when I heard it, I insisted that the INEC can’t declare the result.”
Recall that apart from the PDP and APGA candidates, the 2023 Ezza North/Ishielu Federal Constituency seat was heavily contested by the candidates of All Progressives Congress (APC), Labour Party and other political parties.
However, every effort made by our correspondent to get a response from the rivals of the PDP candidate was not successful at the time of filing this report.
