Stakeholders and faithful of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State on Friday, staged a protest over what they described as the fraudulent subversion of the true results of the May 23 APGA primary for Oyi State Constituency seat by some government officials and party bigwigs.
The protesters, who besieged the State Government in Awka, are calling on the State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo to intervene and restore the stolen mandate of the true winner of the primary election.
Numbering over 300, the party loyalists and stakeholders brandished placards with various inscriptions depicting their grievances and chanting protest songs.
The leader of the protesters, Mr Uchenna Oraegbunam, who is the State Auditor of APGA, narrated how on the 23rd of May, the party had its primary election for Oyi State Constituency, under a peaceful environment at Nteje Community, Ward 4, which is his own voting area.
According to him, in that election, the sitting member representing Oyi State Constituency, Hon Innocent Ojike scored 179 votes while another aspirant, Kosisochukwu Ibemesi scored 45 votes.
He revealed that after the election, the result was declared at the Council hall of Oyi LGA headquarters and Hon Ojike won, but two days after the announcement, an entirely different result was announced declaring Ibemesi as the winner of the primary.
“We were shocked to see that they wrote 425 votes for Kosisochukwu Ibemesi, whereas the entire number of accredited voters for that election was 230. This is the same number of accredited persons for the Senate, and House of Reps primaries conducted the same day,” he said.
Oraegbunam, who insisted that the result declared afterwards was not the vote cast by the Oyi people, said as a progressive party, APGA must protect its internal democracy from those who want to destroy it.
“Our governor is doing well and they have come to lie to him, but that’s why we came here. Anyone who is peddling the fake results should present evidence to support the result they declared.
“All we are asking the governor is to restore the people’s mandate. We have laboured a lot to make this party win elections in Nteje and Oyi LGA. Let the will of the people prevail,” he said.
A party stakeholder from Nteje Ward 5, Barr Innocent Ugwor noted that there was only one electoral officer that who superintended over the primary elections and signed the result sheets for the Senate, House of Reps and House of Assembly, wondering why they would have to announce a different result after two days.
“In my Ward, Hon Ojike scored 318 votes while Ibemesi scored 136 votes. It is surprising how, after some days, they would turn around and say Kosisochukwu Ibemesi got over 400 votes, while Ojike scored 90 votes.
“So, today, we are here to inform the governor, who is the national leader of our party, that an electoral fraud was orchestrated in our local government by some government officials, especially the local government chairman and party bigwigs.
“Our people stood under the sun to elect the party’s candidate for Oyi State Constituency, and after such toil, they want to subvert the will of the people. Someone even said they have the contact of the son of the governor. But we know the governor does not tolerate such. That’s why we are here today to complain to him to remedy the situation,” Ugwor said
Addressing the protesters, the Deputy Chief of Staff to Anambra State Governor, Dr. Vincent Okechi revealed that Governor Soludo had before the primaries, addressed aspirants, during which he assured them that he will remain neutral in the elections.
According to him, the governor had maintained that position, assuring the protesters that the governor had no hand in whatever their grievances were.
He urged them to appropriately articulate their grievances and address same to the office of the National Chairman of the APGA, and the State Governor, who is the National Leader of the party, assuring them that their plights will be looked into.
“Recall that Mr Governor had before the primary, told every aspirant to go to the field and campaign, and that he will not support anybody. That’s why he insisted on direct primaries. That was even why he did not vote in his own ward in Isuofia, so that he will not appear to be supporting any candidate.
“If you believe that someone manipulated the result, the right thing to do is to write the party and also to Mr Governor.
“The governor listens to everybody and since this primary, he has been addressing issues that came up.
“We also have a National Chairman of the party whose duty it is to look at the grievances you tabled and be able to address party faithful,” he said.
Dr Okechi further advised the protesters to conduct their actions in a manner that will not portray the party in a negative light, reminding them that APGA is one family.
