TEXT OF A PRESS BRIEFING BY
DR. CHRIS NWABUEZE NGIGE, OON, KSJ
GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE OF ACTION CONGRESS
ON THURSDAY 11TH FEBRUARY 2010 AT AWKA, ANAMBRA STATE.
Gentlemen of the Press:
It has become imperative to meet with you again in order to alert the people of Anambra State, Nigerians and the World at large that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has once again engaged in a severe breach of our constitution as it pertains to electoral matters.
You may recall that at my last press briefing on Sunday, February 7, 2010, I had highlighted the issue of the disenfranchisement of over 83% of Anambra State people, especially in my areas of voting strength. I also mentioned the issue of violence, arrest of AC agents, ballot box snatching and stuffing as well as monetary inducement of voters at the polling areas. On the day of the election at the discovery of these lapses, I quickly brought them to the attention of the INEC Chairman and he advised that I put them in writing and submit to the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) before the final results are announced.
We immediately put up our petitions to withhold results in those areas mainly Anaocha, Onitsha North and South as well as Ogbaru. Our INEC Collator Mr. Kingsley Ezenwenyi vehemently protested these results. Even with the INEC collated figures (anomaly and all notwithstanding) it was clear to our Collator that no clear winner had emerged and he promptly brought this to the attention of the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) who is the Returning Officer but he was ignored. The State REC instead proceeded to announce a winner.
Having now received the official results from INEC, we have carefully analyzed same and come to the painful conclusion that the announced winner did not meet the mandatory constitutional requirement as provided in Section 179 (2)(a) and (b). This section provides as follows:
(2) A candidate for an election to the office of Governor of a State shall
be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being two or more
candidates -
(a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and
(b) 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.
INEC therefore subverted the Anambra Governorship electoral process by announcing a non winner, thereby truncating a second election (run off) in accordance with Section 179 (3) (a)(b). This section provides thus:
(3) In default of a candidate duly elected in accordance with subsection
(2) of this section there shall be a second election in accordance with
subsection (4) of this section at which the only candidates shall be -
(a) the candidate who secured the highest number of votes cast at the
election; and
(b) one among the remaining candidates who secured a majority of votes
in the highest number of local government areas in the State, so
however that where there are more than one candidate with a majority
of votes in the highest number of local government areas, the
candidate among them with the next highest total of votes cast at the
election shall be the second candidate.
In summary, we need to bring to light the injustice in this case. The announced winner did not meet the constitutional requirement of winning "not less than one quarter of all the votes cast in each of atleast two-thirds of all the local governments areas in the State". In other words, the announced winner must meet this requirement in 14 Local Government Areas in Anambra State. Indeed, the announced winner met the requirements in only 13 Local Government Areas.
(See attached analysis)
Having secured the next highest number of votes and fulfilling Section 179(3)(a) (b) as stated above, I should be going for a second election as stipulated in Section 179(3)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
Because of this travesty meted on me and the Anambra electorate, I have decided to take my matter to the election court for the invocation of the relevant provisions of the constitution dealing with second elections (run off) following the inconclusive election of February 6, 2010.
Thank you.
FOR WIDE DISTRIBUTION
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