RAYMOND OZOJI reports
APGA faithful from Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State on Friday staged a peaceful protest to the Government House to vent their spleen on what they saw as miscarriage of justice, announcement of fake results and declaration of the wrong aspirant as winner of the May 23rd APGA primaries across the state.
The protesters who carried placards of various inscriptions such as " Soludo Hear The Cry of Oyi People, Our Votes Must Count, Ojicam Is Our Choice, Our Mandate Can not Be Stolen and so on, maintained that some political merchants in Oyi Local Government Area have subverted the will of the people and hijacked the electoral process, noting that the election result announced was a charade and fraudulent.
The protesters comprising elderly men, women and youths, declared in unison that the incumbent member representing Oyi constituency in the current 8th assembly Hon. Innocent Ojike popularly called Ojicam won the just concluded primary election with wide margin in their respective wards and that they can not fathom where and how the results announced were manufactured.
The state auditor of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Hon. Uchenna Oraegbunam, who hails from Nteje community in Oyi Local Government Area, said at Nteje ward 4, his own ward, Innocent Ojike (Ojicam) scored 179 votes and Kosisochukwu Ibemesi scored 45 votes but to their consternation, 425 votes was announced for Kosisochukwu Ibemesi whereas accredited number of voters in Nteje ward 4 was 230, stressing that they have evidence of their claims.
He said the results announced were not the votes cast by the people; that they will not accept it. Oraegbunam said they came to tell the governor that whatever lies he has been fed with by those he described as political predators were not the true reflection of the entire process, adding that anyone who claims that Kosisochukwu Ibemesi got 425 votes in Nteje ward 4 should come forward and prove it.
They therefore appealed to Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo to restore the mandate of the people as well as allow the aspirant they voted for massively be declared the winner, emphasizing that they have laboured a lot to ensure that APGA win elections in Nteje and Oyi Local Government Area. That elections can be manipulated in other wards but certainly not in ward 4, his own ward.
Another protester who identified himself as Barr. Innocent Nebechi Ugwo, noted that in spite of the fact that the people stayed under the sun for hours casting their votes, some persons he described as disgruntled elements subverted the will of the people by announcing fake election results.
Ugwo alleged that someone boasted that he has the governor's son's phone contact; that nothing will happen since he has been declared winner.
Meanwhile Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo's Deputy Chief of Staff Dr. Okechi Vincent Egbuna, who addressed the protesters on behalf of the state government, assured them that their grievances would be resolved.
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