Obi blames INEC for disenfranchising 8m voters in South-East

The dust has been raised by the vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mr Peter Obi, who has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of depriving over eight million eligible Nigerians the right to vote in the South-East during the February 23 presidential election.

In a statement on Tuesday at a press conference held in Onitsha, Anambra State, Obi who claimed the election was intentionally staged to ensure that the zone did not participate fully, added that only about 20 per cent of the 10 million registered voters were able to exercise their voting rights.

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“You will recall that on election day, I said the process was clumsy and we also had a major problem with malfunctioning card readers. Most people couldn’t vote as a result.

“When over 4,000 card readers got burnt, it became clear that something was wrong somewhere and the Independent National Electoral Commission could neither save the situation nor allow people to vote manually.

“But in some other parts of the country, people were allowed to vote manually and it was accepted by the electoral body.

“How can you tell me that states like Yobe and Borno produced more voters than Anambra and Ebonyi states put together?

“The two states have been at war. I wonder how they got card readers that were working so well, despite the war situation in which they found themselves” He said.

Obi also added that Nigeria had failed in its capacity to building on the accomplishments of the 2015 general election.

By Todimu Ogunade…

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