A socio-political group, South East Progressives Assembly has berated the South West chapter of Ohaneze Ndigbo for ‘being driven by sentiment to campaign for the All Progressives Grand Alliance and its candidate Dr. Alex Otti’
Dr. Otti is challenging Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu of the PDP in the Abia state governorship race which will be having a rerun elections in 9 local government areas in the state.
In a statement signed by the President and Secretary of SEPA, Ebere Uzoukwu and Munonye Maximus, the group insisted that the PDP won the April 11 governorship election by leading APGA with not less than 83,000 votes.
The statement reads: “One of the most prominent social-cultural groups in the South East geo-political zone – Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo is beginning to lose its credibility by approbating and reprobating on the pages of some National Dailies over the outcome of the Abia state Guber election which the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) declared inconclusive.
SEPA accused Ohanaeze of sponsoring a recent publication where it claimed that the guber candidate of the All Proessive Grand Alliance (APGA) – Dr. Alex Otti won the election with majority of the votes cast. In another breath, Ohaneze called for fresh guber polls in Abia State through a publication credited to its national publicity secretary – Okpalaukwu Okpalaezeukwu on the ground that the election in Abia State was marred by gross irregularities and unprecedented rigging.
SEPA says “The organization which always claims to be a non-political is now being driven by sentiments to campaign for APGA. They are now sponsoring publications capable of destroying its reputation and further dragging the image of the Igbo nation to the mud.
“Evidently, a careful consideration of the positions taken by now the pro-APGA group shows that there is no iota of truth in their publications but a calculated attempt to mislead the good people of Abia State and the general public.
“First, INEC did not declare the APGA candidate – Dr. Alex Otti as the winner of the election and neither did he score the highest number of votes as purportedly claimed by the Ohanaeze. It is apparently on record from INEC source, both in the printed and electronic media that Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu of PDP took the lead with 248,459 votes while Dr. Alex Otti managed to pull only 165,406 votes. What then is the basis for claiming that the APGA candidate won the election when in actual fact Dr. Ikpeazu of the PDP defeated Dr. Otti with 83,053 votes?
SEPA urges Ohanaeze to remain apolitical as the founding fathers designed it to be and quit seeking cheap relevance by fanning the embers of discord among the proud people of Igbo Nation. The group insists that if anything should change in the current stand of INEC to conduct fresh elections in some units in the 9 local government areas, the commission should go ahead and declared the PDP candidate, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu the winner having secured the highest number of votes in the elections so far.
