Abia Central: INEC Omitted APC in Result Sheet, Says Rep Onuigbo
Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the just concluded senatorial election, Hon. Sam Onuigbo, has said that his chances of winning the poll was hampered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which omitted his party in the result sheet used for recording of votes.
Onuigbo, who represents Ikwuano/Umuahia federal constituency voiced his rejection of the poll outcome at a news conference at his Umuahia home.
“It is disheartening to inform you that INEC failed to include the name of my party on the result sheet for the 2023 Abia Central Senatorial election,” he said, adding that “the documentation of my scores in the election was shambolic” due to the omission of his party name.
Displaying one of the result sheets for Abia Central, the House of Representatives committee chairman on climate change said that he lost in his bid to become a Senator because there was no provision for entering his scores on the result sheets.
Onuigbo, who fought off opponents to retain his senatorial ticket following the Supreme Court verdict of January 27, 2023, said that INEC “made a mess” of the votes cast for him.
According to him, his votes were “left at the mercy of presiding officers who chose to either leave out the result, record it among the invalid votes or in rare cases with their own hands to enter it”.
The Rep member challenged INEC to explain the reason APC or his own name was not on the res sheets used for the Abia Central Senatorial poll.
“This puzzle should be resolved by INEC and the leadership of my party, APC, that made no effort to correct the anomaly at the appropriate time,”he said.
The returning officer for Abia Central Senatorial Election, Professor Herbert Udo of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU) had declared Darlington Nwokocha of Labour Party winner of the poll having scored 92,116 votes.
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Col. Austin Akobundu(rtd) received 41,477 votes to place second while the APC candidate Hon Sam Onuigbo came third with 7,997 votes.
