25th IS THE D-DAY

As a result of the alleged electoral irregularities reportedly experienced in the Imo State governorship and state house of assembly elections last Saturday, April 11, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed a new date for the re-run elections in the state.

This was made known to NAN on Wednesday in Owerri by the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Gabriel Ada.
Ada said the electoral umpire had fixed April 25 for re-run of the 2015 Governorship and some constituencies in the state House of Assembly elections.
It would be recalled that INEC had declared the April 11 governorship polls in Imo inconclusive, a development that led to the cancellation of elections in more than 250 polling units in 23 of the 27 local government areas.
The REC listed the state constituencies affected in the re-run to include; Ikeduru, Isiala Mbano, Isu, Oguta, Owerri West, and Oru East.
He explained that the electoral commission ordered re-run for the governorship election because of the 79,000 difference between the votes scored by the leading and the second candidates.
“The registered voters in the affected polling units are more than 145,000 and when you consider this figure with the difference, you discover that it was quite substantial number of voters,” he said.
Ada, who gave a breakdown of the state assembly results where the exercise had been concluded, declared that APC won 16 seats, PDP five and six were inconclusive.
The REC revealed that some ad-hoc workers were being investigated for their roles in the manipulation of results during March 28 and April 11, 2015 elections.
“We have several cases of figures being subverted from polling units to ward and down to the local government areas. INEC is investigating all these matters and those found culpable will be prosecuted,” he said.
Ada assured that INEC would continue to do its best to make sure the elections remained free, fair and credible and urged voters to respect the rules.
Meanwhile, the country’s main opposition party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) had in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammad, hinted that the party is patiently waiting to see the outcome of the happenings in Imo State after INEC declared the April 11 governorship polls in the state inconclusive. source