Mention those who tried to bribe you, Ikpeazu challenges Oti

The Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has challenged the returning officer for the March 18 gubernatorial election in the state, Professor Nnenna Oti, to appoint those who intimidated and tried to bribe her during the collection of election results in Umuahia.

He said the returning officer betrayed her trust in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by her actions during and after the election.

Oti who is Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) in Imo State has told how she was bullied but refused to be bullied before and during the collection of results in Umuahia.

The governor, who issued the challenge in a conversation with reporters in Umuahia, alleged that Oti had clearly come to perform 'axe work' against the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the state given his statements after the elections. He also accused Oti of participating in the victory dance of Labor Party (LP) gubernatorial candidate Dr. Alex Otti through his actions after the election at odds with the expected neutrality of officials in INEC.

Ikpeazu revealed that he expressed some fears about the returning officer to INEC authorities, but was assured that they had confidence in her.

The governor also denied meeting or having any contact with the returning officer and accused her of making too much noise out of thin air.

He said; "I would like to know who bullied her. I think she made too much noise out of thin air. The duty of the returning officer is basically to tally the results already collated from the wards through the local government and declare them. She can't change the results because she has no right to do that unless she goes ahead and does something like that. But her reactions betrayed the fact that she was too excited about something.

"When you get to this kind of dispassionate post, whatever the outcome shouldn't excite you. But the victory dance she participated in and her statements, which amount to confessions, have betrayed the fact that she came for an ax. This may be rejecting or accepting certain results.

"I want the world to know that she celebrates what she's not allowed to do. I've never met her before; I don't have her phone number, but I'm aware that if she came to do the right thing, she has no right to change anything. In fact, she doesn't even have the right to reject the results because those results were generated by the polling stations and neighborhoods. Its celebration is unfortunate and unbecoming of someone who has been entrusted with this kind of responsibility at this level."

On the vehicles and cash gifts that were given to the returning officer by some high-ranking Abians, after the elections, Ikpeazu said; "You know the bribe can come before or after the event. If I tell you, if you do this or this is the outcome, that's what you'll get, that's an incentive. It is also an incentive to behave in a certain way.

So could this be the fulfillment of a promise that if that's the outcome, that's what will happen? I think this is unprecedented, I don't know where this has happened in Nigeria before, and it opened up a new prospect of incitement during the elections.

“You are my friend and you are running for an election. I can tell the returning officer to do anything to announce my friend and I will give you something after. And when I keep my promise, it becomes an incentive. It's a shame."

Ikpeazu further dismissed allegations that result collection was halted at Obingwa LGA. He said his investigations revealed that there was a plot to nullify all Obingwa LGA results, which the youths in the area resisted.

The governor alleged that the refusal to collect results at the neighborhood level and the attempt to move the collection center to Umuahia angered young people in the area.

He continued, "I am not aware of any hostage taking of any electoral officer in Obingwa LGA. I visited the area but before I got there, the Commissioner of police in charge of the elections in Abia South was there. The commander of the Aba police zone was there. The DSS was there. And when these high-ranking officers from these agencies go to such places, they do it with a following their men.

“In fact, there was an armored personnel carrier piloted by soldiers stationed at the local government headquarters. election staff. There is a limit to what I can say because the case is already before the electoral petitions court. But I want to remind us that this is not the first time that an attempt has been made to nullify the Obingwa LGA election results.”

"The first attempt was in 2015. In 2019, an attempt was made to bomb Obingwa LGA headquarters to ensure that the region's votes did not count. And I insisted so that the results are gathered at the vario...