INEC declares Imogovernorship election inconclusive
INEC declares Imo
governorship election inconclusive
The Independent National Electoral
Commission has declared the
governorship election in Imo state
inconclusive.
Due to the number of cancelled votes
(144,715) in relation to the margin of
win (79,529) by the candidate of the
All Progressives Congress, Rochas
Okorocha, the Returning Officer,
Professor Ibidapo Obe, declared the
election inconclusive.
He said a new date would be
announced for a supplementary
election in the cancelled wards
spread across several local
government areas.
Mr. Okorocha was initially thought
to have won the election after he
garnered 385,671 votes compared to
the 306,142 votes scored by the
candidate of the Peoples Democratic
Party, Emeka Ihedioha.
The APC candidate is ahead of Mr.
Ihedioha by 79,529 votes, which is
by far lower than the 144,715 votes
cancelled by INEC as a result of
irregularities in some wards.
INEC’s verdict on the Imo election is
a repeat of what happened in the
April 26, 2011 governorship election
in the state.
The commission had at the time
declared the poll inconclusive
because election did not hold in
Ohaji/Egbema, Mbatioli, Ngor-
Okpala and Oguta Local Government
Areas as well as in Orji Ward in
Owerri North Local Government
Area.
Before that election was declared
inconclusive, results for 24 of the
state’s 27 local government areas had
been announced, with Mr. Okorocha
leading in 12 local government areas
with a slim total margin while the
then governor, Ikedi Ohakim, also
led in 12 local government areas but
trailed Mr. Okorocha in the total votes garnered.
A supplementary election was then fixed for May
6, 2011, which Mr. Okorocha, who ran then on
the platform of the All Progressives Grand
Alliance, went on to win.
If Mr. Okorocha eventually wins the
supplementary election being planned by INEC
this time, the APC would have succeeded in
holding on to the only state it controls in
Nigeria’s South-East geo-political zone.
Three of the remaining states (Enugu, Abia and
Ebonyi) in the region are controlled by the PDP
while one (Anambra) has remained firmly in the
grip of the All Progressives Grand Alliance for
more than nine years.
