The commission’s acting Chairman, Mr. Sylvester Okonkwo, who disclosed this at its headquarters in Awka yesterday, said the outcome of Nnewi North Local Government Area poll was inconclusive, noting that it had been rescheduled for January 18.
He, therefore, reeled out details of the election result, stating that APGA won a total of 304 councillorship seats contested in the state’s 326 electoral wards; with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winning 12, Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) one seat and United Progressive Party (UPP) also wining a seat.
Okonkwo acknowledged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) formally wrote the commission before the election, indicating that it would not participate in the election for lack of confidence on the voters’ register the commission eventually used to conduct the process.
The January 11 electoral process was the only local council poll ever conducted in the state since Nigeria’s returned to democracy in 1999, but 23 registered political parties boycotted the election.
The last council poll in the state was conducted in 1998 prior to the general elections that ushered in representative democracy in 1999, after over 20 years of military interregnum.
But the political parties, which boycotted the process, cited the controversial register of voters used in the election as not different from the one used for the November 16, 2013, governorship election in the state.
On why it boycotted the process, the APC said three conflicting registers of voters were in circulation a few days to the election even as it stated that it was already in court contesting the veracity or otherwise of the election.
After the process on Saturday, the APC issued a statement, describing the election as another APGA charade couched in deceit and that the apathy exhibited towards it by the people of the state and the non- provision of result sheets justified its position not to participate.
Commenting on the rescheduled poll in Nnewi North, Okonkwo explained that it was unanimously agreed among parties that participated in the process that the election be conducted on January 18.
Okonkwo, therefore, commended the people of the state for eschewing violence before, during and after the polls, even when there was a report of interception of a vehicle conveying election materials.
He urged those who were aggrieved with the outcome of the election to go to court, recalling that local council election was last conducted in the state in 1998, while attempts to conduct the poll before Saturday had met brick walls.
He noted that attempts were made in December 1998, December 4, 2004, February 2005, November 2011, October 5, 2013, December 14, 2013, December 21, 2013 before it was finally conducted on January 11.
Also speaking, Chairman of APGA in the state, Mr. Mike Kwentor, ascribed the party’s victory to the infrastructure development, which he said, had been successfully executed by the administration of Governor Peter Obi.
Kwentor said the party was not bothered by the postponement of the election in Nnewi North, noting that the party “will win the election when conducted. That three other political parties got pockets of victories shows that there is democracy in the state.
“Grassroots democracy is the election of villagers and commoners, so depending on the credibility of the candidate, villagers voted their choice,” he explained.
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