Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the just concluded gubernatorial election in Abia State, Prof Gregory Ibe has asked Abians to be patient, and keep hope alive, despite the delay in the collation of results.
Ibe in a Press Statement made available to Jungle-Journalist.Com, stated that there were reports of wide-spread irregularities across the state, especially at Obingwa. He commended the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC for intervening in the issues thrown up by the collation of results.
Part of the statement reads:
“Sequel to the present en passe created by the stalemated collation of results of the governorship election in Abia state, I hereby request Abians to remain calm while keeping hope alive.
Though information sourced from our election situation room confirm wide spread irregularities across the state, with Obingwa leading some other Local Government Areas in recording the unique malfeasance of non deployment of BVAS machines, it is no longer news that the Labour Party has so far garnered sufficient votes to emerge victorious.
Therefore ahead of formal declaration of the official result I want to congratulate my brother Dr Alex Otti, candidate of the Labour Party for his consistency so far in the battle to liberate Abia from the shackles of under development and well deserved victory at the polls.
Finally, I want to enjoin the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) to leave no stone unturned in their effort to solve the current en passe by eliminating from the ongoing process of collation of results, obvious cases of electoral fraud, and by so doing ensure substantial compliance to statutory provisions of the new electoral act, especially as it pertains to conduct of elections using the BVAS machines.
Prof Gregory Ibe,PhD,OFR
Abia State Governorship Candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA)”