Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate for Abia Central senatorial contest, Hon. Sam Onuigbo, has expressed bitterness over the omission of the APC name and logo in the result sheets for the election held last Saturday.
Onuigbo who is currently representing Ikwuano/Umuahia federal constituency in the House of Representatives, rejected the result of the poll declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC.
The lawmaker who made the observation at a press conference in Umuahia, said the gross omission by INEC affected the documentation of his results.
Hon. Darlington Nwokocha of the Labour Party, was declared winner of the contest after polling 92,116 votes.
Col. Austin Akobundu (retd.) of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, came second with 41,477; while Onuigbo came third with 7,997 votes.
Onuigbo accused INEC of making mess of his result with the omission.
“It is disheartening to inform you that INEC failed to include the name of my party on the result sheet for the 2023 Abia Central Senatorial election. The documentation of my scores in the election was shambolic due to the omission.”
Rep. Onuigbo who is the House Committee Chairman on Climate Change, blamed his fate at the poll on the error by INEC.
According to the lawmaker, his votes were “left at the mercy of Presiding Officers who chose to either leave out the result, record it among the invalid votes or in rare cases drew a column with their own hands to enter it.”
He, therefore, challenged INEC to explain the reason APC was committed on the result sheets.
Onuigbo who fought much legal battle to fly the APC flag, also wondered why the leadership of his party overlooked such gross omission in the first instance.
“This puzzle should be resolved by INEC and the leadership of my party, APC that made no effort to correct the anomaly at the appropriate time,” he said.
Onuigbo who said he would liaise with his incoming successor at the green chamber to ensure none of his on-going projects was abandoned, said he had made indelible imprints in his consistency.
