Anambra south: I NEVER ANNOUNCED RESULT UNDER DURESS -Returning Officer

Anambra south: I NEVER ANNOUNCED RESULT UNDER DURESS -Returning Officer

The Returning Officer for Anambra South Senatorial election held on Saturday, February 23, 2019, has said that what was being circulated in the social media and reported in some sections of the media about his announcing the Anambra South Senatorial election under duress was a tissue of lies.

In his letter dated Thursday, February 28, 2018, with the caption, “In the Matter of The Anambra South Constituency Senatorial Election Result Declaration”, copied to the Vice Chancellor, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; and members of the press, Umenweke, a Professor in the Faculty of Law, Nnamdi Azikiwe University said: “My attention has been drawn to the news being circulated  in the newspaper, social media and particularly, Punch Newspaper of 27^th February 2019, captioned “I DECLARED IFEANYI UBAH WINNER TO SAVE MY LIFE’.

“I never at any point said that I announced the result of the Anambra South senatorial election under duress nor in the mode that is implied by the Punch Newspaper captioned as per above. No gun or knife was pointed at me the material time of the election result announcement”.

The Returning Officer said that any person or group, that feels aggrieved about the election should approach the election tribunal as the constitutionally recognized means for any aggrieved party.

Emphasizing on what could be the basis for the report in the Punch Newspaper, he said, “My letter of 25^th February 2019, which was a response to a letter dated 23rd February 2019, written by Chief Sir Chris Uba, the PDP candidate is hereby referred to.

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“By virtue of my letter of 25^th February 2019, I stated that the result of the election in Anambra South senatorial zone was inconclusive to enable me to debrief the 7 local government collation officers on the issues raised in the petition of 23/02/2019. It was also to enable me to investigate the claim contained therein.

“Within this interval, I have made extensive inquiries and investigations from the seven local government collation officers involved and none received any report from any ward in the form of Form EC 40 G. Consequently, none of them generated any Form EC 40 G1. No reports whatsoever were received by the local government collation officer involved in the Anambra South senatorial election. No such report was given to me. In the light of the above. There is no evidence before me to support the clams of the writer of the petition of 23rd February 2019

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“By virtue of the foregoing, I hereby re-affirm my declaration that ChiefIfeanyi Ubah, the candidate of YPP, is the winner of the Anambra South Senatorial seat”.