Five more political parties that participated in the April 11, 2015 governorship and House of Assembly elections in Abia State have rejected the entire exercise and called for its total cancellation advising that a re-run election be organized by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Abia State. The parties are All Progressives Congress, United Progressive Party, National Conscience Party, Peoples Democratic Congress, and Labour Party. At a press conference addressed by the coalition of political parties on Friday, held at the secretariat of United Progressive Party, along Nsukka Street, Umuahia, the par ties demanded the cancellation of results from three local government areas namely, Obingwa, Osisioma Ngwa, Isialangwa North. Coming under one umbrella, the parties unequivocally stated that “there were no elections in the three local government areas of Abia State on April 11, 2015 as the people of Abia State were not allowed to exercise their franchise on the election day." The group called on all well meaning Nigerians to add their voice to the call for total cancel lation and a re-run in the state. They commended the people of Abia “for standing their ground to resist the massive rigging in the state.” The spokesman of the group, who is the governorship candidate of United Progressive Party (UPP), Chief Mgbeahurukwe-Dike Ogbuehi, stated that “Abia has embraced the change blowing across it and Nigeria as the people resisted the usual rigging of elections in the state. The parties thanked the international observers, security agencies and the people of Abia for standing their ground to resist the massive rigging for which PDP is known. He spoke further: “We wish to remind the government in power that it is no longer business as usual, where you just churn out results the way you like and ask your co-con testants to go to court “We commend the INEC for the introduction of the card reader as it has gone a long way in reducing electoral malpractices in the sys tem. Furthermore, we demand that all those involved in the electoral malpractices in Abia State should not be part of the re-run and should be prosecuted according to the law of the land,” Ogbuehi stated. He called on all Abia indigenes to join hands “to rebuild and trans form Abia State,” saying: “It is time to resist autocracy, dictatorship and rigging of elections in the state.” He stated that Abians would resist the oppressive government and en throne a progressive one as time has come to resist autocracy, dictator ship and election rigging which has become the lifestyle of the ruling party in the state. He urged voters in the state to use their voters cards and vote out the inept administra tion and leadership during the rerun.DailySun
