The Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has rejected the outcome of Saturday’s election, describing it as “unacceptable”.
In a statement issued by the Director of Media and Publicity of his Campaign Organisation, Mr Ikenna Onuoha, on Tuesday, Anyanwu alleged that the election was hijacked by thugs and urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel it.
He discredited the results announced by INEC, saying that they were obtained from areas where elections were not scheduled to take place.
“The good people of Imo State should be bothered that INEC generated election results from areas it had earlier announced that election would not hold due to insecurity,” the statement added.
Anyanwu threatened that the PDP governorship candidate might be compelled to seek redress in Court should INEC fail “to either review the election or cancel it entirely within seven days”.
“INEC is advised not to allow itself to be viewed as a willing tool to destabilise Nigeria’s democracy,” the statement read.
The PDP candidate denied the allegation that he collected N2.5 billion from party leaders and financiers to induce voters to vote for the party in the election.
He was reacting to the “rumour that he disbursed only ten per cent of the funds”.
According to the statement, Anyanwu described the allegation as “blackmail from mischief makers and a vile attempt to malign his character”.
It stated that the party did not subscribe to thuggery, vote buying and other electoral misconduct.
“This allegation is not only misleading, ridiculous and mischievous but a big hoax.
“It is pure blackmail from mischief makers with no iota of truth in it.
“It is preposterous and utterly absurd for a sane person to allow himself to be used as a tool to malign his fellow human being simply to pursue a vile and irrelevant motive.
“That the PDP refused to be part of vote buying, thuggery and rigging, which is at variance with the Electoral Act, should not give anyone the temerity to propagate falsehood in order to score cheap political relevance,” the statement added.
