The Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha has begged the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) to urgently present him his
certificate of return as the Senator-Elect for the Imo West Senatorial
district election.
According to him, INEC does not have any moral or constitutional
justification for withholding his certificate of return by acting on an
allegation by a returning officer.
Addressing newsmen on Tuesday at the government house in Owerri,
Okorocha said: “I cannot understand how a mere allegation of somebody,
an individual, talking about duress, which has not been proven by
anybody, will stop INEC from giving me my certificate of return for an
election that I won properly.
“I cannot understand why an individual’s report of a professor who
lied, will now be taken more than the report by the Nigeria Police,
State Security Service, that said there was no crisis, everything was
peaceful. The returning officer should be called to order.”
He went further to urge INEC to release his Certificate of return so
the issue will not cause any constitutional and political problem for
the country in future.
DAILY POST reports that the electoral body had insisted that it will not issue a certificate of return to Okorocha,
who was declared the winner of the election by the returning officer
Professor Innocent Ibeabuchi, after alleging that he announced the
result out of duress.