The Independent National Electoral Commission has recently deny a report accusing its Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, of attempts to distort the governorship election results in Abia State.
A portal, Strenuous Blog, had quoted the Returning Officer for Abia, Nnenna Oti, as alleging that she was being forced to do the wrong thing.
According to the portal “The INEC Presiding Officer Abia State, Nnenna Oti had this to say…’I’m Professor Nnenna Oti from Afikpo. I am the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology Owerri, The people’s mandate shall stand. I have spent all my adult life in pursuit of the ideals of good governance. We shall stand by the these principles. The pastor in me (she is a Pastor with the RCCG) and the mother in me will not permit me to do anything that will adversely affect the future of our children. I shall do right by God and by man!’
“Then to the shock and surprise of everyone in the hall, she said that the INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, personally called her and gave her directives on guidelines to follow in ensuring that Abia governorship election results were collated based on some criteria but that on her own she has decided that the will of Abia voters would not be subverted under her watch.
“At that point, she asked the Administrative Secretary to read the message she said that came from the INEC headquarters Abuja.”