He had accused the electoral commission of compromising the poll, leading to the declaration of Governor Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the election.
The Labour Party governorship candidate in the November 11 Imo State governorship election, Athan Achonu, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of frustrating his legal team’s efforts to inspect the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and other electoral materials used for the election despite getting a court injunction.
Achonu raised the alarm on Wednesday, one week after he and his supporters protested at the electoral body’s national headquarters in Abuja over its failure to issue them the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the election result.
SaharaReporters had reported that Achonu had accused the INEC of playing a double standards at the off-cycle governorship election.
He had accused the electoral commission of compromising the poll, leading to the declaration of Governor Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the election.
According to INEC, Governor Uzodimma polled a total of 540,308 votes to beat Samuel Anyanwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored a total of 71,503 votes and Achonu who got a total of 64,081 votes.
Achonu and Anyanwu had rejected the result of the poll, saying that the election was marred by electoral irregularities.
While addressing newsmen at his residence in Abuja, Achonu on Wednesday said that INEC’s failure to issue the CTC of the result and allow the LP lawyers access to BVAS and other materials was clear evidence that the commission has something to hide.
“What is happening now as I speak is that we went to the court, and got an order to be allowed to inspect the BVAS. This is a governor they claimed won the election by a landslide. There was no celebration in the entire Imo State.
“The state looked like a graveyard after the result was announced. Yet when the judgment for Owerri municipal came out the other day in favour of LP candidate, Clinton Amadi, the whole city erupted into joy.
“Now I begin to wonder after INEC has declared the governor as the winner, the same INEC has refused to allow us to inspect the BVAS. As we speak, lawyers and experts have been hired at a huge cost of about N30 million. They are there and have not been allowed to carry out the inspection in spite of the court order. What is INEC up to?” Achonu said.
He then called on President Bola Tinubu to wade into the matter and call INEC to order as he expressed concern that in a sane country, killers of the PDP ward chairman in Imo, Chiedoziem Anyanwu, and traditional ruler of Otulu Amumara, Joe Ochulor, would not be left to go scot free.
Achonu added, “I am using this opportunity to call on President Bola Tinubu to look into what is going on. This cannot be happening under his watch. He has gone around the whole world soliciting for investments. How can any sane person invest in a place like Imo where the PDP chairman and a traditional ruler were recently slaughtered?
“My own collation agent was also kidnapped and, up to date, we have not seen him. He is still missing. We had to replace him on the day of election when we didn’t hear anything about him. Nigeria is the country where I was born and raised up. I am not leaving it for anybody. Please Mr President, don’t let this nation descend into chaos. Do something in Imo.”