*Upholds Abak/Etim Ekpo/Ika
By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
Arising from what was observed as widespread violence leading to maiming of voters and officials in the 17 Units of Ward 11, Itak, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has cancelled the supplementary election of Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Dr. Cyril Omorogbe, who disclosed this to newsmen at INEC headquarters in Uyo on Saturday, described the rerun in the area as abysmal.
Omorogbe said that the elections were cancelled in all the 17 polling units that the rerun took place as a result of violence, snatching of electoral materials, including Bi-Modal Voters Accreditation Machine System (BIVAS).
“The fact that we had about four local government areas where we conducted election and one major one was Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency.
“We were there this morning early enough and about 8:30 am polling units were opened. Couples of hours after we opened the polls, I received a call that BIVAS machines were hijacked.
“So, I knew from then that we were in for a tough time. Two hours after that, I received another report that was not good. So, the election in Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency has been cancelled.
“They were fighting all through the local government area in the 17 polling units in the area. I received a report from the collation officers who were expected to collate the results in the area that election did not hold.
“The whole exercise of those 17 polling units, they were either hijacked, disrupted, people were being chased and other things of that nature.
“From the collation officers in the field who were supposed to collate, they all came back and have written reports and the result sheets they supposed to fill are all here. Apparently, there was no election for now,” Omorogbe declared.
He expressed regrets that the violence led to the shooting of one of the corps members on duty on his leg.
REC wondered why politicians would be so desperate in a federal constituency election to the extent of shooting an innocent corps member.
“The corps member was shot, he is still in the hospital. We’ve done our best in terms of providing money to make sure he is treated well. I strongly believe he will be okay.” The REC added.
Earlier in a chat with journalists in Uyo, agent of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Barr Eteyen Archibong, described the incident of Ikono/Ini rerun as a charade with nothing to write home about.
Archibong appealed to INEC in the state to declare the candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Hon Emmanuel Ukpong-Udo, winner having scored the highest number of votes in the February 25 House of Representatives election, leading his close rival, Glory Edet of PDP with over 4,000 votes.
Also speaking, the State Secretary of YPP, Ambassador Kelvin Umoh, has also called on INEC to announce his party’s candidate as winner of the Ikono/Ini House of Representatives election having previously scored majority of the votes cast during the last election.
Meanwhile, the rerun polls in Abak/Etim Ekpo/Ika Federal Constituency of the state was applauded and All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Mr Inemesit Clement Jimbo was declared winner by INEC.
Jimbo scored a total of 22,225 votes to defeat a second term candidate, Hon. Aniekan Umanah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 20,793 votes.
