The declaration of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as the Governor-Elect of Delta State has been rejected by Chief Great Ogboru of the Labour Party.
The Labour Party flag bearer disclosed this in his Abraka home while addressing newsmen yesterday. He said he and his party will be heading for the tribunal to contest the result announced by the nation’s electoral body.
Ogboru noted, “Okowa did not score majority of lawful votes cast in the election and did not also meet the relevant constitutional provisions.
“It is our firm belief that the return of Okowa as governor-elect does not reflect the democratic will of the majority of our electorate. His said return in based on electoral irregularities and malpractices that cannot be ignored by any unbiased umpire.”
Ogboru further disclosed that most of the areas that more votes were recorded for Okowa, the card reader were not used which is against the regulation of INEC, which states that where card readers cannot be used, voting will be suspended.
He noted that, “We in the Labour Party went into the election trusting that INEC would deploy and use the card readers as enshrined in its 2015 guidelines for election officials. Regrettably, some officials of INEC violated the guideline and its further reassurance to our disadvantage.”
The Labour Party’s candidate noted that card readers were only used in the Delta-Central senatorial district, where they were used for accreditation and collation of votes.
“This implies that every vote we received is genuine, lawful, valid and legitimate.
“In a curious summersault, card readers were overwhelmingly not used in Delta North and South. The election was conducted arbitrarily as dictated by PDP chieftains, who took over the duties of INEC personnel in those two senatorial districts and parts of Delta central.
“By that singular action, some INEC officials once again allowed ‘toxic votes’ to be used to defeat the people’s will. These votes are unlawful and invalid,” Ogboru affirmed
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