DAILY TRUST
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has accused the Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the March 18 governorship election in the state, Prof. Nnenna Nnannaya-Oti, of favouring Labour Party (LP).
In the final declaration, Nnannaya-Oti said Alex Otti of LP won the poll with a total vote of 175,467, while his closest challenger and candidate of the ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party, Okey Ahiwe, polled 88,529 votes.
While Oti won in 10 local government areas of the state, Ahiwe took six, with the candidate of the Young Peoples Party, Enyinnaya Nwafor, who polled 28,972 votes, winning in one LGA.
When the returning officer returned to Owerri, she narrated how she was allegedly pressurised to rig the election.
The Prof said she chose not to do what was against her conscience on the outcome of the election.
But speaking on Channels Television, the governor said before the polls, he had carried out some background checks on Nnannaya-Oti, who is the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Imo State, and complained to INEC that she would not be fair in the electoral process.
He, however, said the hierarchy of the electoral commission assured…
