The Imo State governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the just concluded general elections, Ugwumba Uche Nwosu, has asked INEC to review the use of ad hoc staff in the conduct of future elections.
Nwosu said since the ad hoc staff did not owe total allegiance to the commission, they were susceptible to manipulative tendencies.
Nwosu, who spoke to our correspondent in Owerri, described the level of irregularity that were uncovered in some local government areas during the governorship election in the state as alarming.
He decried particularly what transpired in the four LGAs of Aboh Mbaise, Ahiazu Mbaise, Ezinihitte and Ngor-Okpala where he alleged that there were massive irregularities, saying that it was unhealthy for the nation’s democracy.
The AA candidate blamed the irregularities on the ad hoc staff, especially those from the universities, who he accused of compromising the governorship election in Imo State.
Nwosu, who recently got the nod of the Governorship and House of Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal to inspect election materials, stated that he was confident that he would reclaim his “stolen mandate”.
He said, “My mandate will be reclaimed, Emeka Ihedioha never won the election, we have gotten the leave of the tribunal to inspect the sensitive materials used for the election and what we saw is alarming and a lot has been revealed, the illegitimate declaration will soon be reversed.
“If you subtract the bogus votes the PDP candidate allocated to himself in the three Mbaise LGAs and Ngor-Okpala you will notice that I actually won the election. But I have faith that the tribunal will do the right thing and annul that election.”
According to him, the declared winner never met the constitutional requirements to be returned as elected.
