INEC In Abia State Heavily Compromised, Oganihu Group Alleges

The Chairman, Secretary of Oganihu Youths of Abia, Mr.  Ndudim Elekwachi and Okezie Johnson, have raised alarm concerning the alleged compromised position of the Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in Abia State.

According to the group, if not for the well thought out postponement of the election on Saturday, the PDP in Abia State would have  massively rigged the election in favour of their various candidates.

In a press release made available to P.M.EXPRESS, they alleged that about ninety percent of names of Returning Officers and Ad Hoc workers of the body for the Presidential and National Assembly Election were names submitted by the PDP in Abia State.

They claimed for instance, that the former Commissioner of Finance under T.A. Orji and the current provost, Arochukwu College of Education, Dr Philip Nto, is among those chosen by INEC to work as Collation or Returning Officer. The group alleged that as if that was not enough, an aide to the Governor, one Mr. Chinenye Nwaogu was fingered by one Mr. Felix Obisike from Nsulu, a village in Isiala Ngwa North, LGA of Abia State, as the one who wrote the results of both the Presidential and National Assembly members election results from the three senatorial zones in the state a day before the election.

Mr. Obisike was allegedly caught around the Methodist Church area in Umuahia following information given to some political party officials near the APC’s office. Obisike, who claimed  to be a beneficiary of N-Power, a federal government empowerment programme, said that he worked with the focal person of  the programme, Mr. Chinenye Nwaogu. The young man was said to have had several other documents in his bag including the letterhead of the office of the Governor of Abia State as well as already prepared results of the Presidential and Senatorial elections from the three senatorial zones in the state with INEC headed paper. He reportedly heaped the blame of the written results on his boss, Chinenye Nwaogu. He has been handed over to the office of the DSS for proper interrogation, investigation and prosecution. It is also believed that the DSS will arrest the SA to Abia State Governor on N-Power, Mr Chinenye Nwaogu, for interrogation and prosecution.

The group said that more worrisome was the case of a lady who was caught with over ten thousand PVCs in her Honda car in the state and upon interrogation she was said to have confessed that she was working for the current Senator of Abia Central who was the former governor of the State. She was handed over to the Commissioner of Police in the belief that she will be properly interrogated and prosecuted for the heinous crime.

The Oganihu Group said that in the light of these revelations and happenings, they have lost confidence in the integrity of INEC in Abia State to conduct free, fair and credible elections in the state. They therefore demand a redeployment of the REC to another State or at worst the change of the names of the INEC workers that will supervise the 2019 General Election in Abia State.

They promised to resist the conduct of the election in Abia State for the 2019 General Election if INEC at the National Headquarters does not take heed to these suggestions and goes ahead with the conduct of the elections next Saturday with those compromised names of supervisory and collation officers. The group is insisting never to allow the already rigged election to take place in Abia State anymore as they are not prepared to go back “Egypt”. Their allusion was in reference to what reportedly transpired in the 2015 General Election when the former Governor, T.A. Orji, compelled the INEC officials in the state to rewrite the election results of the election.