Members of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra State have called on Governor Charles Soludo to restore the nomination of Innocent Ojike in the May 23 primary election for Oyi State Constituency.
A handful of APGA members marched from the Anambra House of Assembly to the New Government House on Friday.
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They carried placards bearing varying inscriptions, including “OJICAM the Genuine Winner”, “OJICAM Mandate Cannot Be Stolen”, “Soludo Hear the Cry of Oyi People” and “Stop The Subversion of Democracy”.
Mr Ojike is popularly known as OJICAM.
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Other inscriptions on the placards were “Democracy Must Prevail In APGA”, “APGA Oyi Rejects Second House of Assembly”, “Let the Truth Prevail in APGA, “OJICAM Is Our choice” Oyi Says No To Electorate Manipulation”, “Do not Destroy APGA in Oyi”, among others.
Uchenna Oraegbunam, APGA auditor, said they were protesting what they considered daylight subversion of the collective wish of the majority of party members in the constituency.
Mr Oraegbunam said real-time results were declared as counted on the spot, but were later cancelled, and another set of results was declared with frivolous figures awarded to the person who lost.
He said the accreditation and voting for the National Assembly and the State House of Assembly were done on the same day, but some party officials decided to “fraudulently alter figures and upturn their choice”.
“The winner for Oyi constituency was declared immediately after the election, but two days later, another declaration was made.
“In Nteje Ward 4, my ward, Ojike scored 179 votes, and his opponent scored 45. However, when the second declaration was made, we discovered that the opponent had been awarded 425 votes, whereas only 230 people had been accredited.
“That is not our vote. That is not the will of our people, we demand evidence of that result, and we call in our working governor to investigate this manipulation and ensure that the people’s mandate is restored,” he said.
Also speaking, Innocent Ugwor, a lawyer, who voted in Nteje Ward 5, said they went into the election on the assurance of the party leadership that the exercise would be open, free and fair.
Mr Ugwor said in his Ward, Ojike scored 317 votes ahead of his opponent, who scored 136 votes, as declared by the returning officer, but at the final stage of collation, the opponent was awarded over 420 votes while Ojike got 90 votes.
“We are here to tell the governor that there was a high level of electoral fraud orchestrated by people who do not have the interest of the party at heart,” he said.
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Addressing the peaceful protesters, Vincent Okechi, the deputy chief of staff to Governor Soludo, commended them for their peaceful conduct and assured them that their complaints would be looked into.
Mr Okechi said Mr Soludo was clear on his neutrality in the direct primary election and encouraged them to document their complaint with the party leadership and the governor for consideration.
(NAN)
