Imo Seeks Probe of How Ihedioha Was Declared Governor in 2019

The Imo State Government has asked the Federal Government and the National Assembly to probe how Emeka Ihedioha was declared the winner of the governorship election in 2019.

It noted that although the Supreme Court had already declared Hope Uzodimma as the rightful winner of the poll, there was a need to probe the circumstances that led to Ihedioha’s declaration.

It claimed that Ihedioha, who ran on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform, didn’t meet the Constitutional requirements.

Speaking during an interview with Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba said there was an urgent need for Nigerians to know who flagrantly abused the Constitution and the appropriate sanction meted to them.

According to Emelumba, Section 179 of the Constitution is clear on how a candidate can be declared a governor. Subsection A of the section states that if the candidate has the majority of lawful votes cast in the election while subsection B states that if the candidate has not less than one-quarter of votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the state”.

He said going by the constitutional requirements, Ihedioha did not get one-quarter of the votes cast in 18 local Government areas which is two-thirds of the 27 LGAs of the state.

According to him, INEC only declared Ihedioha the winner in 10 local Government areas, seven short of the required 18 local Government areas, yet he was declared the winner of the election.

“This is a serious rape of the constitution that should be investigated to know who the perpetrators are. It has never happened in this country before that someone who did not meet the constitutional requirements is declared the winner of a governorship election. It should not be swept under the carpet.”