Dora Akunyili has to wait a while to know if she will be going to the senate.
By Jude Atupulazi |
The results of the election in Anambra central senatorial district have been put on hold by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) pending a rerun election in three wards in Njikoka local government.
The decision came in the wake of strong protests by agents of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) against the cancellation of results in the three wards, which they claimed would have catapulted their candidate, Chris Ngige to victory.
Naija News Desk gathered that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Dora Akunyili was slightly ahead of her closest rival, Mr Ngige, from the results already announced by the electoral body. But when the results from Njikoka were received, the ACN agents claimed they received a text message from their agents in the cancelled wards which they said showed that ACN led in two of the areas, a development they pointed out would have ensured victory for their party in the overall result.
Led by their state agent, Kingsley Ezenwenyi, the ACN agents insisted the results should not be announced and threatened to deal with the returning officer if he went ahead to announce the results. They shouted and hurled invective at both the Election and and Returning officers - and even chased the Returning Officer into the first floor office of the commission.
Finally both officials walked out, leaving some other officers of the commission to explain the situation to the protesters.
A spokesperson for the commission, Mr Nwunelli, said the cancellation was because of the non-availability of result sheets which were snatched. He said there was a new INEC guideline which stipulated that when the total number of registered voters is added up and found to be capable of upturning the result, such would be declared inconclusive.
He said the number of voters in the affected wards was found to be capable of upturning the result and hence no return would be made. He said the result had therefore been put on hold pending a rerun in the Nimo and Enugwu-ukwu.
A briefing by the resident electoral commissioner with the press could not however hold as soldiers flooded the entrance to the commission's headquarters and refused the journalists entry.
In Nimo, people dressed in Army uniform had stormed wards one and two and commandeered the INEC staff to part with the result sheets. The operation was believed to have been orchestrated by a politician of the town belonging to the Accord Party, whose party was hopelessly outclassed in the wards by ACN and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
In the declared result, Andy Uba of the PDP won in Anambra south.
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