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Tag: Emeka Ihedioha

  • Group advises Imo governor elect to ignore sychophants

    Mr Kingsley Onwubiko, Secretary to the Committee on Volunteer/Support Group (CVSG) of PDP in Imo, on Tuesday advised Chief Emeka Ihedioha, the Imo Governor-elect, to ignore sycophants.

    Onwubiko told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that political sycophants were the cause of bad leadership in Nigeria.

    He condemned the manner some sycophants had misled many leaders in the country to the detriment of the masses.

    “Many leaders in the past with laudable roadmap for the people have been either deceived or hijacked by these sycophants.

    “The irony is that many of these sycophants did not even support Ihedioha when we were campaigning, but today they are mounting billboards in praise of him,” Onwubiko said.

    Read Also: Fire guts arrival terminal of Imo airport

    The PDP chieftain reiterated his call on the Governor-elect to avoid the sycophants whose stock in trade was to create a gap between the leader and his people.

    He explained that many of them were propelled by selfishness and greed.

    According to him, they are the true enemies of the people with anti-people advice if allowed.

    He, however, expressed total confidence in the Governor-elect, describing him as a man of the people.

    Onwubiko said that Ihedioha would not allow political jobbers to distract him because of his genuine love for Imo people.

    NAN reports that leadership in Africa generally has been plagued by sycophancy leading to political and economic downturn.

    NAN

  • Imo guber: we’ve made alarming discoveries – Nwosu

    The Imo State governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the just concluded election,  Uche Nwosu on Thursday described the level of irregularities uncovered in some Local Government Areas during the governorship election as alarming.

    He noted particularly that what transpired in the four Council Areas of Aboh Mbaise, Ahiazu Mbaise, Ezinihitte and Ngor-Okpala was unhealthy for the nation’s democracy.

    Nwosu who recently got the nod of the Tribunal to inspect election materials, stated that he is confident that he will reclaim his “stolen mandate”.

    According to him, “My mandate will be reclaimed,  Emeka Ihedioha never won the election,  we have gotten the leave of the Tribunal to inspect the sensitive materials used for the election and what we saw is alarming and a lot has been revealed, the illegitimate declaration will soon be reversed.

    Read Also: I’m leaving behind a viable, secured Imo – Okorocha

    “If you subtract the bogus votes the PDP candidate allocated to himself in the three Mbaise LGAs and Ngor-Okpala you will notice that I actually won the election but Ii have faith that the Tribunal will do the right thing and annul that election”.

    Nwosu also blamed the irregularities on the ad-hoc Staff, especially the University Professors and lecturers who he said compromised the governorship election.

    He called for a review of the use of these academia in subsequent elections, describing their alleged complicity on electoral fraud as a huge threat to the nation’s democracy.

    According to him, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Emeka Ihedioha never won the election, as according to him, he never met the constitutional requirements to be declared governor-elect.

     

     

  • ‘Ihedioha should deliver on campaign promises’

    A support group for good governance in Imo State has called on the Governor-elect, Emeka Ihedioha, to deliver on his campaign promises.

    The group staged a peaceful protest in Owerri, yesterday, to thank the people for voting for a new government.

    Edet Ekwe, Bolton Igboanugo, Jerome Nnadozie and Basil Okeoma, who spoke for the group, admonished Ihedioha to prioritise efforts that would address the people’s yearnings.

    The group noted that Ihedioha’s victory was one for the entire Imo people and would chart the way forward for the state.

    Read also: Tribunal orders substituted service on Ihedioha, PDP

    They were satisfied with the outcome of the general elections, stressing that under the incoming government, standard social infrastructures, quality health care, effective security, people-oriented policies, among others would be achieved.

    Igboanugo said: “It is our expectations that Ihedioha will deliver on his campaign promises. We trust him based on his antecedents and pray that he will do well to address the immediate needs and yearnings of the people.

    Ekwe added: “We decided to come out today having seen the massive support given to Ihedioha in the last election, to say thank you to the people.

    “Equally, we want to assure them that Ihedioha we know will not disappoint.”

  • Imo governor-elect bans issuance of land titles, CofO

    Imo State Governor-elect Emeka Ihedioha has directed civil servants, especially those serving at the Ministry of Lands, to stop the issuance of Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) and other land titles forthwith.

    A statement by his media aide, Chibuike Onyeukwu, reads: “After a study of the report submitted to him on land matters, the Governor-elect, Emeka Ihedioha, has issued the following directives

    -all further processing, issuance, execution and collection of Certificates of Occupancy, in respect of land within the Owerri Capital Territory, are hereby suspended and put on hold forthwith.

    Read also: Fire guts arrival terminal of Imo airport

    -civil servants, public servants, special aides and government officials whose duties concerns land matters, including, but not limited to the Registry of Deeds, allocation of State Land, processing, issuance, execution and delivery or release of Certificates of Occupancy, are to be guided and strictly comply with the above directive.

    “Any person found wanting in these directives, would have himself or herself to blame.”

  • Group tasks Imo governor-elect on payment of salaries, pensions

    International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), an NGO, has tasked Imo Governor-elect, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, on payment of outstanding salaries and pensions owed workers and retirees in the state.

    The Chairman of the group, Mr Emeka Umeagbalasi, who disclosed this in a statement on Saturday in Enugu, said the arrears runs into months and years.

    He said that the immediate payment of the outstanding salaries and pension arrears were of utmost importance to mitigate the hardship faced by all levels of workers and their retired colleagues in the state.

    According to him, Imo people, especially the state’s workers and pensioners, voted for change and somebody that will answer their prayers of paying them their entitlements.

    Read Also: Imo: Tribunal orders substituted service on Ihedioha, PDP

    “The new government should know the amount of unpaid arrears of salaries and other remunerations belonging to serving workforce of the government of Imo and those in its 27 local government areas between May 29, 2011 and May 29, 2019.

    “Those owed by previous administrations in the state before May 29, 2011.

    “Unpaid pensions, gratuities and retirement benefits belonging to retired workforce of the government of Imo and its 27 local government areas between May 29, 2011 and May 29, 2019.

    “And those owed by previous administrations in the state before May 29, 2011; while it should take holistic approach in settling these debts in the benefit of the people,’’ he said.

    Umeagbalasi also urged Ihedioha to set up Verification Panel of Auditors to investigate and verify the mess in the finances of the outgoing government of the state.

    “This is to ascertain the true state of finance of the state and what is left in the state coffers, if any,’’ he said.

    He said that the panel must find out total amount of foreign loans or unpaid debts by the outgoing government between May 29, 2011 and May 29, 2019 and those borrowed by the previous administrations in the state.

    “The panel should verify amount of local loans or unpaid local debts borrowed from commercial banks by the outgoing government between May 29, 2011 and May 29, 2019 and those borrowed by the previous administrations in the state’’.

    NAN

  • Imo: Tasks before Ihedioha

    As the Governor-elect in Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party, prepares to take over power from the Governor Rochas Okorocha-led APC Government, Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, reports that the in-coming governor has the task of healing a heated polity, amongst other wounds

    WHEN, at the end of this month’s governorship elections, conducted under over-charged political atmosphere in Imo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Hon. Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner, even his closest associates knew the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives still has an Herculean task to do in order to rebuilt the traumatized political house of the Southeast state.

    This is because the rivalries that trailed the campaigns and the elections had not only created sharp divisions amongst erstwhile close associates and communities but had also over- heated the polity.

    “To get Imo State back, the governor-elect has the primary task of healing the wounds that have been inflicted on the polity and on the people. That must be his starting point if he expects to succeed. If you are an insider here and understand how deep the wounds are, you will appreciate the tasks before the governor-elect, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha,” said Chief Mbakwe Udodinma from Okigwe.

    Following the face-off between out-going Governor Rochas Okorocha and his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) over who should be the governorship candidate of the party, informed observers feared that the elections would not only be hot, but that the state’s political soul could be tampered with if security operatives failed to control the charged atmosphere. One thing was certain on the eve of the election, and that was that because of the unsettled quarrels between the ruling party and the governor who contested for a senate seat on the party’s platform, the party may loss out to any of the other grounded political parties in the governorship race.

    So, when INEC eventually announced that PDP’s Ihedioha polled 273,404 votes to defeat 69 other candidates, including his closest rival, Uche Nwosu of Action Alliance, who scored 190,364 votes, the result only confirmed the political revolution the disagreement engineered. It is instructive that All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, polled 114,676 to come third while the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Hope Uzodimma, got 96,458 votes to emerge fourth. Observers noted that if Nwosu and Uzodinma’s votes had remained as one, it would have added up to 286,822 votes to retain the state.

    As it stands, observers said the PDP governor-elect, who benefitted from the development, will need to sooth frayed nerves and heal wounds in order to calm the atmosphere enough for easy governance, sustainable development and progress.

    His footsteps, opportunities

    Although his first utterances when he was announced the winner of the race suggested that he may go after the out-going top officials, financial mismanagement and looting of state resources, concerned stakeholders said Ihedioha has, since he got his Certificate of Return during the week, however shown signs that he understands the need to begin by healing wounds and by assuring all that the new dawn is for the people’s good. This probably explains why, soon after receiving his certificate on Wednesday, Ihedioha promised to be fair to all irrespective of their tribal or party affiliations.

    Pledging to abide by the rule of law in administering the state, the governor-elect declared, “I will be Imo governor in the real sense of the word.”

    Observers have interpreted this comment to mean that Ihedioha is poised to change the narrative of governance in Imo. “His utterances and moves so far suggest that Imo is set to witness fundamental change in the way we have been governed in the last decade. Although many are yet to get concrete ideas of what that change entails, but I can confirm to you that the steps and the statements so far credited to the governor-elect have, to a large extent, renews hope for many,” said Udodinma.

    One of the statements credited to Ihedioha that seems to have raised the hopes of many in the state is his announcement of a three-point agenda for his state. Briefing newsmen in Owerri, the state capital, the governor-elect had while expressing gratitude to the people of the state for their mandate called on those that contested with him to join hands in rebuilding the state. This has led to calls by stakeholders to reconcile warring political leaders so as to move the state forward.

    The governor-elect, in that press briefing also said his administration will “vigorously pursue infrastructural development, quality education, and improved health care.”

    He promised to make accountability his watchword, adding that he will soon set up a transition committee that will “liaise with the out-going government and ensure a smooth take-off of his administration.”

    Aside these clear steps to calm frayed nerves, observers said he seems determined to arrest financial mismanagement in the state. This has been so since he openly cautioned financial institutions against engaging in last minute transactions with the out-going administration.

    Already, aggrieved Imolites are piling pressure on Ihedioha to probe the out-going top government officials, including Governor Rochas Okorocha. Just early this week, five socio-political organisations under the umbrella of Imo Salvation Forum (ISF) said they have submitted a comprehensive document known as Imo Salvation Charter to the state’s Governor-elect, Ihedioha which they said contains some of the major demands of Imo people from his administration in the next four years.

    In the communiqué read by the National Coordinator of the Forum, Chief Finbar Chidubem A, who is also the President General of Imo Prosperity Network (IPN) after a meeting that took place on Chidi Akurunwa Street, Port Harcourt Road, Owerri, the stakeholders said their first line charge in the 10-point document submitted to the Governor-elect, is a probe of the out-going governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha which they insisted must begin as soon as he takes over Douglas House.

    “We are here to inform you, gentlemen of the press, that we have formally submitted a 10-point document known as Imo Salvation Charter to the governor-elect. In the first place, we drew the attention of His Excellency to the fact that the election of March 9, 2019 that overthrew Rochas Okorocha was a massive revolution in which the people were determined to make whatever sacrifice that was necessary to bring an end to the primitive dynasty that he wanted to entrench in Imo.

    “Having succeeded in overthrowing the evil rule, it is now time to take stock of what happened in the state in the past eight years which led to the brutalisation of our people physically, mentally and psychologically. This is because, not doing so would amount to the greatest disservice to Imo people,” the communiqué stated.

    “We have gone round all the communities in Imo State. What everybody in Imo is demanding first and foremost is that Rochas be made to account to the people what he used the hundreds of billions of Naira that was entrusted to him on the behalf of our people for eight years.

    “In our submission to the in-coming governor, we drew his attention to the fact that Imo State public service is in shambles, destroyed by Rochas Okorocha and his co-travelers. Today there is no laid down rules governing issues like recruitment, dismissal, staff placement, promotion, leave matters, everything. There is therefore the need to

    reform the public service in Imo and bring sanity to the system,” it said.

    “We also drew the attention of the Governor-elect to the need to review the huge salary deficit and the irrationality of workers welfare in the state. Currently, Imo State workers cannot even say how much they have been paid since Rochas became governor eight years ago as they are paid anytime the governor wants. Sometimes they are paid half salary, at other times they are paid in percentage while most times they are not paid at all. All these, we want the governor-elect to sit down and review as soon as he is sworn in a few weeks from now.”

    Imo Salvation Forum is not the only organization that has given the incoming state government its idea of what the next agenda should be. Some stakeholders had made cases for their areas.

    Ohaji/Egbema/Oguta/Oru West Professionals Forum for example said there is need to set an agenda for the in-coming state government for the development of the Federal Constituency.

    Commending Ihedioha for picking his Deputy, Hon. Gerald Irona, from the Constituency, Chairman of the Forum, Dr. Walter Duru, in a statement made available to The Nation on Friday said, “this is the first time someone from Ohaji/Egbema/Oguta/Oru West Federal Constituency is emerging Deputy Governor of Imo State.”

    “Ohaji/Egbema/Oguta/Oru West federal constituency is the most-marginalised in Imo State. In spite of contributing over 80 percent of Imo crude oil earnings, as well as being the food basket of the state, our federal constituency remains the most marginalised in the state. This is the only oil producing federal constituency in the state. It is the same area that Adapalm is situated. Sadly also, it is usually ravaged by flood, with the attendant oil pollution. The federal constituency has neither produced a governor nor a deputy since the creation of the state. Now that we have Deputy-Governor-elect, there is need for a Summit to set an agenda for the strategic development of the area.”

    Secretary of the Forum, Nwando Ethel Anyasinti Esq, supporting the need to set agenda for the in-coming governor said, “it is time for critical stakeholders in the federal constituency to come together to discuss issues that will help develop the area.

    She called on the incoming administration in the state to support same, in order to have a roadmap for development of the area, even as she made a case for sustained citizens’ engagement by the government of the state.

    Aside the likely support Ihedioha-led state government would get from the oil-rich Ohaji/Egbema/Oguta/Oru West federal constituency, it is being acknowledged that his emergence has in a way resolved the rather naughty issue of zoning arrangement in Imo, especially the call of the Owerri zone to produce the next governor after Okorocha.  Some proponents of the Imo Charter of Equity in respect of the office of the governor of the state, had demanded that it was the turn of Owerri to produce Imo governor. At the onset of the electioneering maneuvering ahead of the governorship race in Imo, when many aspirants and candidates came from Owerri zone, some analysts had said they may only share the votes, leaving none of them as the winner. But shortly before the elections, according to some insider sources, the leaders of the zone, held underground meetings and negotiations that facilitated massive support for PDP’s Ihedioha. Now that this last minutes efforts had yielded results, observers said Ihedioha’s government will be better off for it because, according to one of them, the pressure of zoning and of Imo Charter of Equity would not be one of the mines the new government would have to escape from.

  • Imo Governor-elect to prioritise youth empowerment

    The Imo Governor-elect, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, says he will give priority to youth empowerment, food production, commerce and tourism.

    Ihedioha made this known at a capacity building  workshop organised by the National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS) for farmers and traders in Owerri.

    According to the governor-elect, 70 per cent of the youths who are unemployed  need to be positively engaged, stressing that some of them had taken to certain vices as a result of hardship and unemployment.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the programme had the theme: “Training and Sensitisation: Tracking of Farmers Manifesto Commitment.”

    Represented by Mr Damian Ezeagu, a fish farmer and a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Ihedioha said he would create an agriculture revolution in Imo to create wealth.

    He said that to achieve this, some hectares of land in Ngor Okpala, Mbaise, Ohaji Egbema and and other local government areas with vast land for agriculture, would be utilised.

    The governor-elect said that his government would focus on agriculture, trading and tourism and asked for the support of organisations such as NANTS because government could not do it alone.

    The National President of NANTS, Mr Ken Ukoha, said that prior to the 2019 general elections, the association had thought of ways of holding politicians accountable to their promises.

    “We all agreed that as traders and farmers, we have always been shortchanged by political parties and their members who have always taken advantage of the low level of the consciousness of our constituency and frequently used and dumped us during elections by buying over our votes and disregarding us in the scheme of things when it matters most.

    “ We further noted that our constituency constitutes the largest voting population in Nigeria, and should therefore have been calling the shots by holding political actors accountable to good governance,” he said.

    Mr Ogbonnaya Oji, the Chairman of NANTS, Abia State Chapter, who represented his National President, Ukoha, said that the association consciously developed two critical demand documents- the Farmers Manifesto and the Traders Charter of Demands.

    He said the charter articulated their challenges, concerns, interest and priorities as bargaining documents with which they negotiated with political actors.

    READ ALSO: Don’t issue Certificate of Return to Ihedioha, 20 political parties, Imo youths tell INEC

    According to him, the had engaged on advocacy visits to some of the  state actors and their parties, endorsing the manifesto and charter of demands and in exchange, he said they voted them.

    Ukoha said that having achieved the initial plan, the next step was to see how we can mobilise ourselves in tracking the commitments with a view to holding these politicians accountable.

    “We have gathered to be trained and equipped with the capacity to track these commitments so that our efforts and resources committed to this project would not be in vain,” he said.

    NANTS president identified his members’ challenges to include illegal seizure of goods of their members and ‘overtime cargo’ by the Nigerian Customs Service.

    Others, he said, included the pursuit of a credible and predictable trade policy for the country’s growth, the harmonisation of taxes and to ensure the association is integrated into the membership of the Board of more than  60  trade and agriculture related agencies and parastatals of the country.

    Mr Innocent Azih, President of Centre for Agricultural and Climate Change in Lagos, said in his paper on  “Tracking Implementation of Policy Commitments for Farmer Manifesto” that the tracking framework hinged on goals, outcomes, outputs and activities by the farmers.

    He stressed the  need to facilitate access to market opportunities and incentives to farmers as well as provision of market infrastructure to reduce wastage.

    Azihb said the training was to equip the farmers with skills to engage state actors to commit to what they could do to the farmers  and traders in the state.

    “It is to track the delivery of the manifestoes  and the charter  by the government . It is to make the policy makers responsible and to implement the charter,” Azih said.

    Mr Don Chris Okere, the Chairman, Imo State Chapter of NANTS, said the programme was a follow up to an earlier programme of the association meant to engage politicians to adhere to the Farmers’ Manifesto and Traders’ Charter.

    “Our leaders now know our challenges. By this training, we want the farmers and traders to follow up and track the leaders into fulfilling what is contained in the two documents,” he said.

    Some participants said they had learnt a lot from  the training,  especially on climate change.

    They said they were now well equipped to train others and track government into supporting agricultural growth for the benefit of Nigerians and Imo in particular.

  • Court strikes out suit restraining INEC from issuing certificate of return to Ihedioha

    A Federal High Court sitting in Owerri on Friday struck out a suit restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from issuing certificate of return to Imo governor elect Emeka Ihedioha.

    The court also ruled that post- election matters belonged to the election tribunals.

    Candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the March 9 governorship election, Mr Uche Nwosu had gone to court to get an order restraining the court from issuing a certificate of return to People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’s Emeka Ihedioha.

    READ ALSO: ‘INEC should withhold Ihedioha’s Certificate of Return’

    Nwosu had argued that Ihedioha did not meet the required 25 per cent of the votes in 18 out of the 27 LGs in Imo.

    Striking the matter out, Justice Tijjani Ringim held that post election matters are to be handled by the election tribunal.

    Ringim said that “the quest for justice must be in line with the constitution. Post- election matters belong to election tribunal “.

    INEC had on March 11 declared Ihedioha winner of the election.

    Ihedioha had polled a total 273,404 votes to defeat Nwosu who came second with 190,364 votes.

    NAN

  • Imo youths petition CJN over declaration of Ihedioha as governor-elect

    …urges INEC to respect the Constitution

    Youths under the aegis of Imo Youth Council (IYC) have petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ibrahim Tanko, to wade into the Constitutional crisis brewing in the State over the outcome of the general election.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Emeka Ihedioha as the governor-elect.

    But in a petition signed by the National President and National Speaker of the IYC, Comrade Ikechukwu Obiora and Hon Samuel Godstime Chukwubuikem respectively, the youths urged the CJN to prevail on INEC to observe and respect the provisions of  the Nigerian Constitution as it applies to the emergence of a winner in a governorship election.

    They posited that the declaration of the PDP candidate as the governor-elect is a clear violation of the Constitution and should be reversed before it escalates into full blown Constitutional crisis.

    According to the youths, INEC as an institution should not operate outside the provisions of the Constitution or laws establishing it, adding that no person or institution is above the Constitution.

    The petition read in part, “We the youths of Imo state and other well-meaning Imolites have observed with grave concern, the flagrant disregard of the Nigerian Constitution by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the governorship election of Imo State.

    “INEC returned the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Emeka Ihedioha as governor-elect in a reckless  violation of Section 179 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which stipulates  that a candidate for an election to the office of the Governor of a State shall be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being two or more candidates; he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and he has not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the Local Government Areas in the State.

    READ ALSO: Okorocha to Ihedioha: Get sworn in before issuing directives

    “The statistics of the result of the governorship election showed that the PDP candidate did not score the percentage of vote required to be declared as governor-elect.  We are therefore as Concerned Youths of Imo State soliciting your intervention to prevail on INEC to withdraw the purported declaration and order a fresh election to avoid impending Constitutional crisis”.

    “We are therefore demanding that a date be fixed for a fresh election in the state and if a winner emerges in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution,  we shall gladly accept the verdict as the collective will of the people of the state, but we will employ all legitimate means to ensure that the illegality foisted on the people of the state by INEC does not stand”.

    Meanwhile twenty political parties have also called on INEC not to issue Certificate of Return to the PDP candidate because according to them, no winner has emerged yet in the March 9 governorship election.

    The candidates described the declaration by the State Returning Officer for the governorship election, Prof. Francis Otunta as shocking and an aberration, adding that,  “as a Professor of mathematics,  he should have known what 25% of 2-3rd votes cast in the 27 Local Government Areas”.

    They strongly contended that the declaration not in tandem with the provisions of Constitution.

    At a press conference in Owerri, the state capital, the governorship candidate of Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN), Jerry Iheanacho, who spoke on behalf of others, said that they had individually decided to challenge the outcome of the governorship election at the election Petitions Tribunal.

    Iheanacho, noted that the declaration of Ihedioha as the winner of the election was “a rape of our Constitution”.

    The governorship candidate said “it is not about Ihedioha but it is about what the Constitution says from the results as announced by INEC, the PDP candidate didn’t meet the constitutional requirement to have been declared the governor elect”.

  • ‘INEC should withhold Ihedioha’s Certificate of Return’

    Twenty political parties have called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withhold the Certificate of Return of the Imo State Governor-elect, Emeka Ihedioha.

    They contended that Ihedioha’s declaration as governor-elect was not in tandem with the provisions of the Constitution.

    At a news conference in Owerri yesterday, the governorship candidate of Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN), Jerry Iheanacho, who spoke on behalf of others, said they have decided to challenge the outcome of the governorship election at the tribunal.

    Iheanacho noted that Ihedioha’s declaration as winner of the election was “a rape of our Constitution”.

    He said: “It is not about Ihedioha, but what the Constitution says. From the results announced by INEC, the PDP candidate didn’t meet the constitutional requirement to have been declared governor-elect. He did not get the needed spread, and we have decided to pursue this injustice up to the Supreme Court. Ihedioha did not get the required 25 per cent of two-third of the local government areas.”

    Chinedu Ukadike of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) said the declaration of Ihedioha as the governor-elect was in contrast with the electoral guidelines presented to them by INEC.

    Ukadike vowed to petition INEC at the tribunal, even as he alleged that the declaration of Ihedioha as governor-elect was done to undermine the Constitution.