The Governorship candidate of the APC in the April 11 elections in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Umana Okon Umana has announced that the party had engaged a formidable legal team to vigorously challenge the allocation of votes by INEC to the PDP in what was supposed to be the governorship and House of Assembly election. ‘We will ask for the purported election to be upturned and a proper one conducted for indeed there was no election on April 11 in Akwa Ibom State’, he said in a meeting attended by leaders, elders, members and stakeholders of the party Saturday night in Uyo.
Umana noted that the lawyers, led by a renowned Lagos-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria with deep experience in pre- and post-election dispute resolution, were hired by the National Headquarters of the party as a sign of unflinching support in the fight to reclaim the people’s stolen mandate. The State House of Assembly election would also be challenged.
Also speaking at the meeting, the State Party Chairman, Dr Amadu Atai, noted that the APC has collated an avalanche of evidence that prove clearly that there was indeed no governorship election in the state. The chairman announced that the PDP is busy looking for disgruntled APC members, especially chapter chairmen that were previously disciplined, to get them to sign a congratulatory message to Udom Emmanuel. ‘If there were a proper election, the PDP wouldn’t be scouting around for signatures of people to congratulate them’, said Dr Atai, adding: ‘we will surely reclaim our stolen mandate in the next few months.’
At the end of the meeting, party members were assured that the new election would be held under a new and better political environment with zero tolerance for impunity, intimidation, violence, politically motivated killings and misuse of the security forces.
The DG of the campaign, Mr Sunny Udom thanked party members and supporters for their overwhelming turn out to vote, and urged them to prepare for another election soon.
