- Imo State governorship candidates, Senators Anyanwu and Achonu, give INEC a seven-day ultimatum to cancel the election, citing irregularities
- Allegations include massive rigging, diversion of materials, and lack of result collation, with the candidates urging a comprehensive INEC review
Imo State governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Samuel Anyanwu, and Labour Party (LP) Senator Athan Achonu, jointly issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday, demanding the cancellation of the governorship election held last Saturday.
While addressing the media in Owerri, the candidates called for this action, expressing concerns about the election’s outcome, where the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate was declared the winner by INEC.
Senator Anyanwu and Senator Achonu alleged massive rigging and the diversion of electoral materials to private homes for illicit thumb-printing. They characterized the process as more of a war than an election, asserting that over 70% of the polling centers lacked result collation.
“This was not an election; it was a war. There was no collation of results in over 70% of the areas. This is a PDP state, and the governorship election took two days to conduct. We are giving INEC seven days to review or outrightly cancel these elections,” Senator Anyanwu stated.
Senator Achonu added that they had written to the INEC chairman, urging a comprehensive review or the complete cancellation of the election. The candidates emphasized their commitment to ensuring the integrity of the electoral process and called on INEC to address the alleged irregularities promptly.