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| INEC chief Prof. Jeg |
One of the suspected architects of the Anambra State governorship election fiasco was ordered remanded in police custody yesterday by a Wuse, Abuja Chief Magistrate’s Court, till December 2.
Chukwujekwu Okeke, 54, was the official, who allegedly sabotaged the distribution of election materials in Idemili North Local Government Area, on November 16.
Plans to run a supplementary election in the local government seems doomed, with residents demanding a fresh poll.
Idemili North, with 173,822, is the local government with the highest number of registered voters. It is also, along with Idemili South, the stronghold of Senator Chris Ngige, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The failure to conduct election in Idemili North and the other degrees of irregularities forced the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare the election as inconclusive.
INEC has fixed Saturday for a supplementary election, which the APC, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) – the three top parties- have vowed to boycott.
Also yesterday, the people of Ogidi, one of the towns in Idemili North, which is also the home town of the late legendary writer, Prof. Chinua Achebe, kicked against the supplementary election.
Like the APC, the PDP and the LP, they called for a fresh election.
Chief Magistrate Usman Shuaibu, ordered that Okeke be remanded till December 2, after he was arraigned on a charge of negligence of duty. This is to enable the police complete their investigation into the matter.
The accused’s application for bail is also to be considered on that day.
The prosecutor, Stanley Nwodo, A deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) from the Force CID, said on November 16, the accused unlawfully breached his official duties at Idemili, where he was deployed.
Nwodo told the court that the accused deliberately withheld the materials designed for the elections, thereby, breaching electoral procedures.
He urged the court to give the police 14 days to enable them complete investigation into the matter.
Nwodo said Okeke, who pleaded not guilty, was standing trial on a one-count charge of dereliction of duty, contrary to Section 123 (1) (2) and (3) of the Electoral Act, 2010.
The counsel to the accused, Mr Daniel Nwogbodo, applied for bail for his client under Section 341 of the Criminal Procedures Code and Section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The sections, which highlight bail as a right of a citizen, say that an accused is considered innocent until otherwise proven.
Nwogbodo told the court that his client was a senior civil servant and a responsible family man who would not jump bail.
He also said that his client had a health condition (high blood pressure), which started deteriorating in Awka, the Anambra State capital where he was held in police custody before being transferred to the Force CID in Abuja.
Nwogbodo also told the court that Okeke would not jeopardise police investigation, if granted bail.
The Ogidi community’s response came in form of a revolt at the Ogidi Town Hall where about 250 persons from the community, were invited by businessman Chief Sam Mendu to plead for votes in the proposed supplementary elections.
They were invited in the convener’s personal capacity, outside partisan consideration for a “matter of importance” only for invitees to witness the sudden arrival of APGA vehicles.
The people kicked when Mendu failed to introduce “the matter of importance”, but instead asked the people to prepare for supplementary elections and to vote for APGA which according to him, “is leading in the INEC results so far”.
Mendu had hardly finished when one of the participants, an elderly man identified as Ogbuefi Ugonwanne, interjected, asking: “Is that why we were invited here?”
He reportedly picked his walking stick and left the hall. Others followed, leaving the organisers and the party officials confused.
In town, community leader John Iloabachie described Ogidi people as “principled”. “It is not a question of which party should be voted for or not, because the issue is, whether Ogidi is part of Anambra State; if our community has a right to aspire for leadership and if anybody outside Anambra State working with a few powerful insiders can stop us from voting.”
“Unfortunately, our son, who organised this meeting under whatever terms, did not think we should address that issue. Instead, he is talking about our community trying to fool itself in an election that has no valid register and which results have been written.”
Ogidi community was not supplied with polling materials. Some polling booths in the area, like most areas of Idemili North and other local government areas did not receive materials until 3.00pm and when they did, it was without voting materials.
But Anambra State Governor Peter Obi yesterday declared that there was no rigging in the election.
Speaking with State House reporters at the Presidential Villa, he maintained that the APGA candidate would win the election, if it is conducted 10 times.
He said: “Let me tell you, in the election in Anambra State, I can go anywhere as a Christian and tell you there was no issue of rigging. Those who wanted to rig were prevented from rigging and they are crying.
“Go to the people of Anambra State, if you repeat that election 10 times, they will never win. What are they even talking about; cancellation? The regulation, the rules or the law say, you have to win at least 25 per cent in two-thirds of the local governments and in Anambra’s case, it is 14 local governments. Only APGA can boast of that. We won in 18 local governments.”
“The nearest, which is PDP, won in nine local governments. APC is in seven.
“I cannot be part of rigging. I don’t have money to pay for people. You know those who spend money and I am not one of them.”
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