LP Guber Candidate, Otti, Urges Calm In Abia

• Demands urgent review, release of results by INEC

BY ONYEKACHUKWU IBEZIM – The Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Abia State, Dr Alex Otti, has appealed for calm in the State with a demand that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) expedite action on its review and release of the March 18 polls’ outcome in the State.

Otti said it is imperative that INEC rely only on the results using the BVAS and posted on its IREV, especially given that the Commission’s officials on ground resisted attempts to foist contrived results from Obingwa and Isialangwa on them.

Addressing a media briefing in Abuja, on Tuesday, Otti said the BVAS technology has proved to be the game changer by being allowed to work optimally, because from the results so far made public by INEC, the magic numbers often produced from Obingwa is a hoax.

He said before now, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) posted 80,000 votes from Obingwa but the reality as exposed by the BVAS shows the figure is not more than 30,000 votes.

The LP flag bearer said in their desperation to subvert the people’s will, the ruling PDP in the state tried unsuccessfully to smuggle in unbelievable numbers of votes from the so-called strongholds, noting that; “The numbers they brought in from two local governments kept changing because they were not sure with which margin we were leading at the time”.

Further alleging that INEC staff were hostage for about 36 hours, Otti said; “And at some point, the figures they were doctoring were changing. When they thought they have got the right figures, they wrote 86,000 for Obingwa and tried to push it in but the Collation officer resisted them. They kept him and he had to sign under duress for his safety. “

Referring to his earlier warnings about the alleged plot by PDP in the state to unleash violence to muscle its way through and he has been proved right, he said; “Two local governments were used in an attempt to rig the election.

“One of them is Isialangwa North where the PDP candidate comes from and the other one was Obingwa where the current Governor comes from.”

Maintaining that INEC officials deserved commendation for so far resisting pressure to subvert the will of Abia people, the LP candidate said; “On that day, mayhem was unleashed and every attempt was made to rig the election people resisted them and at the end of the day, the Obingwa collation Centre located at the Local Government Headquarters, was under siege by armed men, thugs, miscreants and all sorts of human beings.

“They made attempts first to bring in doctored results to the collation Centre they were resisted by our agents. What they did was to descend heavily on the major agent of Labour Party and beat him to pulp he passed out, they took him out of the collation Centre and left him for dead.”

He mentioned the Party’s agent name as George Chidozie, who is a medical doctor, adding; “As we speak, he is lying critically ill in an undisclosed hospital in Abia.”