By Matthew Don
Peter Obi, the vice presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said on Tuesday that the results declared by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from Anambra state was not a reflection of what transpired and that it was unacceptable to the party.
Obi’s party won the polls in Anambra with a relatively large margin compared with what the All Progressive Congress got.
Obi accused the INEC of marginalizing over 8 million registered voters in the South East in Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Obi told a news conference his Onitsha residence that the elections were systematically planned to ensure the zone did not participate fully in the exercise.
He claimed that only 20 percent were able to cast their votes out of 10 million registered voters in the region.
Obi said: “You will recall that on the Election Day, I said that the process was clumsy and we also had major problem of card readers and most people could not vote.
“When over 400,000 Card Readers got burnt, it became clear that something was wrong somewhere and INEC could not save the situation and they will not allow people to vote manually.
“But in some other parts of the country people were allowed to vote manually and it was accepted by the electoral body.
“Now how can you tell me that a state like Yobe and Borno produced the number of voters that is higher than Anambra and Ebony states put together?
“The two states are areas that have been at war and I wonder how they got Card Readers that are working so well despite the war situation that they found themselves.”
The former governor of Anambra state lamented over the retrogressive disposition of the country. He said instead of building on achievements of the 2015 general elections, the nation was on a reverse.
Obi added: “The impressive turn out of voters was discouraged by the performance of the electoral body last Saturday.”
He further condemned the harassment and attacks members of his party suffered in the hands of security agencies targeted at intimidating them.
He however stated it was not in his powers to announce any demand for the cancellation of the election, saying, “It is left for the party to make its position clear on the matter.”