2023 Election: Abia LP faults INEC over failure to declare Otti winner

The Labour Party in Abia State has criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over its failure to have announced its governorship candidate, Alex Otti as the winner.

LP noted that Otti has enough votes to be declared winner of the gubernatorial election held on Saturday, despite 26,845 votes INEC has been waiting from Obingwa local government area.

This was made known in a statement titled, ‘Affliction shall not arise a second time, INEC beware’ by Mr Kazie Uko, the Director, Media and Publicity of Alex Otti Campaign Organisation on Monday.

The statement read, “Let’s look at it this way, the election was held to elect a governor and house of assembly members. One set of accreditation was conducted for both the governorship and house of assembly candidates. Results have been declared and winners returned for the house of assembly election, based on the same accreditation.”

It further asked, “So, why is the announcement for the winner of the governorship election being withheld? Is it not the same set of people who voted the house of assembly candidates that voted for governor?”

“I understand that the total number of accredited voters from Obingwa Local Government Area, Abia State, is 26,845 and it is this number that voted in the election. With Labour Party beating PDP with over 93,000 votes, even if the entire 26,845 votes from the accredited voters are ceded to PDP, Labour Party will still have won the governorship election with about 67,000 votes.

“I think INEC should have returned Alex Otti, the Labour Party Governorship Candidate, as the Governor-Elect of Abia State, without all of this Obingwa result collation drama.

“Abia people are getting impatient with Abia State Government, out-going Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, PDP and INEC. They want their Governor-Elect, Dr Alex Otti, declared not later than Tuesday, March 21, 2023, or…”