CONTROVERSY AS APC WINS IMO NORTH SENATORIAL BYE-ELECTION

Although the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the Imo North Senatorial bye-election yesterday, controversy still rages over who was the candidate of the party at the election.

Before the Saturday December 5, 2020 election, two candidates, Ifeanyi Araraume and Frank Ibezim, have been laying claim to the APC ticket which came up for contest following the death of Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu in December 2019.

On Friday, just hours before the election, a Federal High Court in Abuja had disqualified Ibezim from contesting the bye-election saying that he(Ibezim), made false declaration in the documents he submitted to INEC.

Before that ruling, the Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri, the state capital, had declared Ibezim as the authentic candidate of the APC after a legal battle with Araraume.

Announcing the result of the bye-election, Mr. Hakeem Adikum, the returning officer, declared the APC winner of the poll, but he refused to mention any candidate of the party as winner.

He said the APC secured 36,811 votes while Emmanuel Okewulonu, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), polled 31,903 votes.

Adikum said the PDP candidate won in one LGA, (Obowo), while the APC won in five LGAs Ihitte Uboma, Ehime Mbano, Isiala Mbano, Okigwe, and Onuimo.

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