DAILY POST
The senatorial candidate of the Labour Party, LP, for Ebonyi South zone, Mr. Linus Okorie, has alleged that his mandate was stolen and given to the outgoing governor of the state, David Umahi, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Okorie, who was a two-time member of the House of Representatives, and represented Ohaozara, Onicha and Ivo federal constituency, insisted that he was the one that won the Ebonyi South senatorial election that held on 25th February 2023.
He made this known while speaking with newsmen in Abakaliki, the capital of Ebonyi State.
He alleged that Umahi is not qualified to contest for Senate and that he didn’t win primaries.
According to him: “I like to say that I’m the presumed winner of the Ebonyi south senatorial zone, conducted on 25th February 2023, irrespective of the fact that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, announced APC candidate, David Umahi as a winner.
“I still don’t accept to the extent that I’m in Election Petition Tribunal to retrieve that mandate. I consider that mandate as a stolen mandate, and I’m very dedicated to retrieving it with the provings of the court.
“An election was held on 25th of February, 2023, where governor David Umahi is a candidate for APC and I was a candidate for Labour Party, LP, and there were other candidates. His supporters, including the local government chairman of Onicha LGA, made thugs that are known APC members and supporters to destroy votes in polling Units within my community and my wards, and that’s the areas of my strength, where ordinarily, I’m expected to harvest the maximum number of votes, just like Umahi did in Umunnaga ward and other wards in Uburu community.
“They shot people; they burnt BVAS, they burnt billot papers, they destroyed results in many of my ten (10) polling Units. When you put all these places, including the one that happened in the Isu community in Ugbogologo ward, we have over ten thousand (10,000) votes that were destroyed.
“If you go to Ivo LGA, in Ngwugwu ward, in the ward collations and after tabulating the results by whatever they have done, Labour Party, LP, which is my party, scored 551votes, while APC scored 290 votes, but instead of entering 551votea that my Party scored, they decided to enter 290 votes to be same with that of APC that scored 290 votes. Taking away 261 votes, is stealing of votes. The BVAS are there to confirm it.
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