By Gloria Ebenezer
Governor of Imo State, Chief Rochas Okorocha, says he deserves the victory attributed to him, even as the Returning Officer of the Imo West senatorial election, which Okorocha contested, Prof. Innocent Ibeawuchi; insists that he was held under duress to announce him as winner of the election.
The result credited Okorocha with 97,762 votes in the election, to enable him defeat his closest challenger of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Jones Onyereri who polled 68,117.
However, Prof. Ibeawuchi is, as at the time of filing this report, still insisting that the Governor’s men forced him to declare Okorocha the winner.
Addressing newsmen after announcing the results on Monday, Ibeawuchi claimed that he was held hostage from 7pm on Sunday till 11am on Monday
“I am a man of integrity and it is not true that the governor slapped me but I was held hostage by agents working for him. I was manhandled and I thank God I came back alive,” he said.
Governor has, however, dismissed the Returning Officer as a blatant liar, insisting that he deserved his victory.
Gov. Okorocha said this in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo.
He said Prof. Ibeawuchi was “a bloody liar who may be acting a script.”
The statement added, “I ask the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), here, to quickly correct these anomalies.
“The returning officer is a bloody liar, who may be acting a script. I enjoin him to return the money he may have collected from those who understand only rigging in election.
“They should examine the returning officer to know his mental state. If he is not mental, then, he must be a criminal to have ever thought of that.
“How could someone ask you to change the result of an election he has already won? My score is above 90,000, and the nearest to me is slightly above half of it, when you combine both Jones and Izunaso’s votes.
“They can’t match or contest against me in Imo State, not to talk of Orlu zone. Am I even supposed to contest for Senate in Orlu; I never campaigned, but only declared and campaigned for three days.
“Having won in nine out of the 12 local government areas announced, we heard that they were trying to move the result sheets to Owerri but when we demanded an explanation, the man (Ibeawuchi) said he was tired and didn’t feel safe, when nobody was threatening him.
“At the end, we discovered that he didn’t have the declaration sheet. I wonder where this is taking us. I hope INEC would change this system because we will resist them if they try it in the next election.”
