Advertisement

Okorocha cries out to INEC over his certificate of return



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.

Saga Gist 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.

Okorocha has, however, taken the matter to court.