Vice presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Mr. Peter Obi on Tuesday said the results declared by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from Anambra state was unacceptable to the party.
He accused the electoral umpire of disenfranchising over 8 million registered voters in the South East in Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Addressing newsmen in his Onitsha residence, Obi lamented that the elections were systematically planned to ensure the zone did not participate fully in the exercise.
He argued only 20 percent were able to cast their votes out of 10 million registered voters in the region.
According to him: “You will recall that on the Election Day, I said that the process was clumsy and we also had major problem of card readers and most people could not vote.
“When over 400,000 Card Readers got burnt, it became clear that something was wrong somewhere and INEC could not save the situation and they will not allow people to vote manually.
“But in some other parts of the country people were allowed to vote manually and it was accepted by the electoral body.
“Now how can you tell me that a state like Yobe and Borno produced the number of voters that is higher than Anambra and Ebony states put together?
“The two states are areas that have been at war and I wonder how they got Card Readers that are working so well despite the war situation that they found themselves.”
Obi regretted the retrogressive disposition the country was tilting towards, noting instead of building on achievements of the 2015 general elections, the nation was on a reverse
He added: “The impressive turn out of voters was discouraged by the performance of the electoral body last Saturday.”
Obi further decried the harassment and attacks members of his party suffered in the hands of security agencies targeted at intimidating them.
He however stated it was not in his powers to announce any demand for the cancellation of the election, saying, “It is left for the party to make its position clear on the matter.”
•Sourced from The Nation report
