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The Labour Party (LP) candidate in the November 11 governorship election in Imo State, Senator Athan Achonu, on Thursday, led party supporters to protest at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to demand the release of Certified True Copy (CTC) of the result of the election.
Achonu and his supporters who arrived at the INEC headquarters by 12:27 PM, said they would occupy the commission’s office until they were attended to.
He told journalists that he wrote to INEC since November 13 requesting the release of the CTC to enable him to file his petition against the outcome of the election in court.
“We are saying that there was no election in Imo State. Collation started even when voting was going on.
“It took INEC two days to announce the result of the election in Bayelsa State with only eight local governments, but the result of Imo State election with 27 local governments was announced within two hours.
“When our state chairman complained and demanded to see the backend of the BVAS machine, he was humiliated and beaten, today, he is in a wheelchair.
“Yet the result of the election was declared under such circumstance,” he lamented.
Two INEC National Commissioners, Mallam Mohammed Haruna and Prof. Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, who came to receive them, commended them for their peaceful conduct.
Haruna who spoke on behalf of the commission, told Achonu that CTC is his right and would be given to him.
But his appeal that the candidate should go to Imo State for his CTC, “because CTC is normally collected at the state level,” was rejected by Achonu who insisted on going inside with them to collect it.
After an interval, Achonu said he was told by the Secretary to the Commission to come back by 3 PM for the CTC.
The LP candidate in the letter by his lawyer, Gregory Ugbong, made 37 requests, including the release of Forms EC8, EC17, EC25, and EC40, as well as ballot papers, voters register and all other electoral forms and materials used for the election in all the 27 LGAs
The long procession, which saw the demonstrators chanting solidarity songs and displaying various banners that read “INEC Give Us Our CTC,” “Respect Our Law,” and “INEC Has Become Headache to Nigerian People,” caused a gridlock.
