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We frown at the surreptitious denial of Certificate of Return ( C of R) to the Senator- Elect for Imo West Senatorial District, Gov. Rochas Anayo Okorocha.
We also seize this opportunity to put INEC in the know that on no account should elected senators be issued with C of R, outside the conditions set by the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.
Consequently, we note that strictly speaking, the C of Rs issued by INEC, yesterday,surprisingly centralised are not in conformity with the Section 75 of the Act, by which provision the certificate ought to have been issued before March 03,2019, backdating not withstanding.
This underlines our suspicion that the general delay and then selective denial of certificates requires a better explanation than has so far been offered by INEC.
We insist that having pronounced Senator Elect Okorocha to the public, INEC, its agents and privies, for purposes of declaration of any outcome in Imo West is now functus officio.
The only duty left for INEC is to approach the trubunal with their doubts and seek an order of tribunal to proceed on any contrary action.
We have heard those who suggested that INEC has an option of cancelling the election and beg to disagree. INEC cannot cancel an election that has been conducted and where voting has been done,sorted counted in polling units,collated in ward and Local government levels, because of an uncorroborated single story.
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At best, they can seek the order of the tribunal who must hear other interested parties, to recollate the obtained EC8A results.
Anything outside this , including what INEC is doing now is an illegality which should not be condoned.
Nwoba Chika Nwoba, Ebonyi State Publicity Secretary, APC
Okelo Madukaife, Anambra State Publicity Secretary, APC
March 15,2019
