Imo North By-Election: APC Wins, INEC Returns No Candidate

NJOKU MACDONALD OBINNA

It was an atmosphere of fear and tension in Okigwe Zone following events and what played out in the just concluded by-election for the soul of Imo North Senatorial District Seat as INEC, while declaring the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the election, is yet to allot the victory to the two candidates; Frank Ibezim and Ifeanyi Ararume, laying claims to the party’s most contested ticket.

Announcing the result of the election at the Imo State Headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the Election Returning Officer, Hakeem Adikun, stated: “I hereby return the APC as the winner of the by-election held in Imo North on Saturday, December 5, 2020.

According to the Election Returning Officer, the APC won in five out of the six Local Government areas in Imo North Senatorial District which included; Okigwe, Isiala Mbano, Ehime Mbano, Onuimo, Ihittee Uboma LGAs, while the PDP won in Obowo, the LGA of its candidate, Chief Emmanuel Okewulonu.

It was authoritatively gathered that the reason adduced for not returning a candidate from the APC as winner, according to INEC Resident Electoral Officer, Prof. Francis Ezeonu, is due to several Court orders for and against the two contending candidates of the party, Frank Ibezim and Ifenanyi Ararume.

Recall that, prior to the highly contested poll, the APC had been embroiled in internal party crisis over who is the authentic candidate of the party for the polls after the controversial primaries that produced two candidates.

Two Court judgements were given separately on Friday, one from the Appeal Court, Owerri, validating the candidacy of Frank Ibezim, another from the Federal High Court, Abuja, barring him from contesting the Saturday’s election for a number of criminal charges, which included certificate forgery; perjury, while clearing Ifeanyi Ararume as the authentic candidate of the party.

Political analysts and election experts in the state have maintained that the two Court judgements may have forced INEC not to declare any of the “candidates” as winner in the election.

Meanwhile official results announced by INEC for the election shows that the APC polled a total of 36, 811 votes, while the PDP got 31,903 votes.
Below are results of the election from the six local governments.
Ehime Mbano:APC 7229
PDP 5727
Isiala Mbano:APC 6,148
PDP 3755
Ihitte Uboma:APC 6809.
PDP 5504
Onuimo:APC 5540.
PDP 4475
Obowo:APC 3,859.
PDP 6,515
Okigwe:APC 7,185.
 PDP 5,220

– Njoku MacDonald ObinnaPR Expert & Publisher, 4thestatereporters.com