PDP and Labour Party reject Imo election results after Inec declares Uzodinma the winner

OPPOSITION parties have refused to accept the results of yesterday's gubernatorial elections in Imo State after the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) declared incumbent Governor Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner.

Yesterday, voters in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi states went to the polls to elect new governors and while counting in two of the other states is still ongoing, the result has already been declared in Owerri. According to Inec, Governor Uzodinma won with  540,308 votes to defeat Senator Samuel Anyanwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who got 71,503 votes and Nneji Achonu of the Labour Party who got 64,081 votes.

However, the PDP and Labour Party have refused to concede defeat, calling for the cancellation of the elections. Tony Nwulu, the Labour Party's deputy governorship candidate, said that security agents provided cover for some persons as they subverted the will of the people.

Mr Nwulu said: “There was no election in Imo State on Saturday. What happened was the diversion of the electoral materials to the homes of people and the local government area council headquarters and in all this, the police, army and the Department of State Security provided security to the actors.

“They came with huge sums of money to the polling units for votes buying but the Imo people rejected them. They now resorted to snatching of electoral materials, diversion of the electoral materials to homes of individuals and to the local government area headquarters where they are currently rewriting the results.

Senator Anyanwu also called for the cancellation of the elections, saying that Inec and  the security agents failed in their constitutional responsibilities to deliver credible elections to the people of the state. He added that instead, the security agents protected Inec staff as APC members rewrote the elections results.

According to Senator Anyanwu, he and his party, the PDP, would not accept anything less than a total cancellation of the poll. It is expected that both the PSP and Labour Party will now be taking legal action to get the elections annulled or overturned.