By Straightnews
The dust generated by the announcement of Chairmanship result in last Saturday’s local government elections in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom has been doused.
Essien Udim is the home state of Senator Godswill Akpabio, Nigeria’s Senate President.
The Akwa Ibom Independent Electoral Commission (AKISIEC) had declared Ntiedo Effiong Usoro as the Chairman-elect in the area under All Progressives Congress (APC) Sunday morning.
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Shortly after, one Professor Inyang Ating from the University of Uyo who was reported to be the Returning Officer of Essien Udim in a viral video read the results of the chairmanship election.
According to him, Ntiedo of APC scored 686 votes while Engr. Enobong Patrick Friday of PDP garnered 55,612 to be declared a winner in the election.
However, Elder Aniedi Ikoiwak, Executive Chairman, AKISIEC while briefing the press on Monday at AKISIEC Headquarters, Udo Udoma Avenue, Uyo, disowned the said Professor Ating as fake, not appointed by AKISIEC nor mandated to announce the alleged result.
Ikowak said the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) has given him power to appoint Returning Officers for the conduct of the local government elections.
He stated that he appointed Returning Officers for the 31 local government areas of the state to collate and send certified results to his office for official announcement.
‘‘The said Professor Ating was not appointed by us. I wonder why he announced results he was not assigned to do so. I later learnt from credible source that the drama was staged in Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo. An unidentified man was conscripted to read the purported result.
‘‘The crowd at the background consisted of hired drivers of their masters who toned the background to make it looked real without allowing the video camera man to capture their true faces,’’ the AKISIEC Boss narrated.
He queried ‘‘Why is it only in Essien Udim that a Returning Officer read the result when other Returning Officers of other local government areas did not read their results?’’
Ikoiwak dismissed the result as fake, stating that AKISIEC appointed Professor Uduak Okon of the Medical Sciences Department, University of Uyo as the Returning Officer for the area.
The Executive Chairman declared that in the final result, Engr. Friday of PDP polled 22,799 votes while Usoro of APC scored 51,751 votes to be declared a winner.
He used the occasion to announce that the commission has suspended the Electoral Officer of the area for absconding with result sheets meant for the area.
Ikoiwak said despite the disappearance of the Electoral Officer, the commission replaced the result sheets since other election materials were on ground and conducted the election, noting that ”The EO appeared at the headquarters on Sunday afternoon with results, but the commission had already collected results from various units and wards in the area from accredited officers based on the conduct of the election.”
