An enraged Nwulu claimed that INEC was planning to rig the results in favour of the state’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The candidates for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), Senators Samuel Anyanwu and Athan Achonu, staged a walkout at a stakeholders’ meeting hosted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) less than a week before the Imo State governorship election.
In order to emphasise their desire for the redeployment of the state Resident Electoral (REC), Professor Sylva Agu, the candidates had filed a grievance with the electoral body.
The meeting on Tuesday was a component of INEC’s outreach to the candidates running for governor, the media, security services, civil society organisations, and other interested parties before to the election scheduled for November 11. The National Commissioner for the Southeast, Kenneth Ukeagu, represented INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu.
READ ALSO: LP and PDP governorship candidates stage walkout at Imo poll INEC stakeholders’ meeting
The deputy governorship candidates for the LP and PDP, Mr Tony Nwulu and Jones Onyereri, respectively, who represented their flagbearers, and other officials of the opposition political parties angrily objected to Ukeagu’s call for journalists to turn off their cameras and gadgets and exit the venue.
The conference was then disrupted by the circumstances in Owerri, the capital of Imo State. Both of them emphasised that the media could not be kept out of the meeting because they were important stakeholders.
An enraged Nwulu demanded to know if the meeting was “a secret cult affair,” alleging that INEC was planning to rig the election in favour of the state’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking in favour of Nwulu, Onyereri produced copies of what he claimed to be forged results sheets that had been uploaded to the INEC website during the state’s House of Assembly election.
Consequently, the meeting became boisterous as members of the government and opposition parties pelted one another with insults, almost leading to physical altercations.
