The Peoples Democratic Party Senatorial Election agent, Hon Oliver Enwerenem has petitioned the national Chairman, of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, over declared results in the district.
Enwerenem alleged in the petition to the INEC Chairman that the results from the polling unit which were uploaded on the IReV portal are inconsistent with figures in possession of the commission for the district.
According to him, while figures uploaded on the IReV portal for the Imo East Senatorial District stood at: ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS: 1,815
LABOUR PARTY: 14,053
PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY: 8,185, different figures are now with the commission.
He said that contrary to the figures generated at the polling units the commission has different figures with APC: 1,815, LP: 14,053 and PDP: 8,185.
The Party agent alleged that the figures are inconsistent with the earlier figures collated from the INEC IReV server which according to him are inflated due to over voting.
He called attention to the curious uploading of Presidential and House of representative results on the INEC IREV Server for Imo East Senatorial Election.
The PDP called for “a thorough review/audit of the said results as afore- listed, and in line with Section 64 of the Electoral Act 2022, before a decision is taken on the matter.”
The letter dated February 28, 2023 which copied the National Commissioner Supervising Imo, the Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner and the Imo East Senatorial Election Returning Officer.
The letter reads in full,
“The National Chairman,
Independent National Electoral Commission,
Abuja, FCT.
Dear sir,
“PROTEST AGAINST THE RESULTS COLLATED IN OWERRI MUNICIPAL AND DECLARATION OF IMO EAST SENATORIAL ELECTION
The above subject matter refers.
We have collated the Polling Unit results generated from the elections held in Owerri Municipal LGA as uploaded in the INEC IREV Server for Imo East Senatorial Zone Elections, up until 9:56AM today, the 28th day of February 2023.
“A summation of the figures as collated from the INEC IREV Server for the Imo East Senatorial Zone Elections are as follows:
ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS: 1,815
LABOUR PARTY: 14,053
PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY: 8,185
The results aforelisted are as collated from 198 Polling Units out of 239 Polling Units in the Owerri Municipal LGA. The remainder are either not uploaded or unclear uploads contained in 41 Polling Units listed on the INEC IREV Server for the Imo East Senatorial Zone Electons.
“The following results In the possession of your commission are inconsistent with the figures above-listed, which are collated from your INEC IREV Server for Imo East Senatorial Zone Elections:
ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS: 2032
LABOUR PARTY: 22934
PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY: 9333
These figures are as earlier stated, inconsistent with that collated from the INEC IREV Server for the Imo East Senatorial Elections, and they are as well, inflated with some cases of overvoting. There are also Presidential and House of representative Results uploaded on the INEC IREV Server for Imo East Senatorial Election.
We strongly request a thorough review/audit of the said results as afore- listed, and in line with Section 64 of the Electoral Act 2022, before a decision is taken on the matter.
Please note that there are many Polling Units where INEC has ordered elections to be conducted because no elections took place in those Polling Units till date. Note that the total number of registered voters in those Polling Units is well over 15,000. These Polling Units are in Mbaitoli LGA, Owerri Municipal LGA, and Owerri West LGA amongst others.
“The law requires that where the margin of victory is less than the total number of registered voters in the Polling Units where elections did not hold, no candidate can be validly declared as having won the election. See Section 24 of the Electoral Act 2022.
“We thank you in anticipation of your rapid response. Be assured of my highest regard always.”
