Chairman of the Abia State PDP Chapter, Senator Emma Nwaka  has cited some areas he faulted the recent Owerri Appeal Court Verdict that annulled the election of the state governor Dr Okezie Ikpeazu  ( his PDP candidate ) in the April 2015 gubernatorial election.

Nwaka while making some clarifications on his write-up titled “ Court Of Appeal Verdict On Abia Governorship Election: PDP Position” stated that the Court of Appeal in error concluded that there was over-voting and posited that “ a case of over-voting cannot be sustained unless the voters’ register is produced in court”.

He stated that “ In this case, APGA did not tender any voters’ register in court talk less of ballot papers cast at the election to prove with pin-point accuracy the margin of over-voting adding that the issue of over-voting is adequately dealt with by Section 53 of the 2010 Electoral Act as amended.

Subsection 2 thereof  he stated , provides that “ where the votes cast at an election in any polling unit exceed the number of registered voters in that polling unit, the result of that election for that polling unit shall be declared void by the Commission ( INEC )  and another election may be conducted at a date to be fixed by the Commission where the result at that polling unit may affect the overall result in the Constituency”.

According to Nwaka, “ one thing that is clear and obvious from this provision is that the issue of over-voting cannot be determined by any court without sighting the voters’ register, polling unit by polling unit”.

He also explained the issue of a rerun election where there is a narrow difference between  the votes allegedly cast and those cancelled , as in the case of Osisioma, Obingwa and Isiala Ngwa North LGAs of Abia state.

He stated: “In this case, the result of the election will certainly be affected  to a substantial degree and that the proper order, if at all , in this matter would therefore have been for a rerun instead of a return.

He asserted that “the cause of justice will certainly not be served if this huge number of voters from the three local government areas , which includes Governor Okezie Ikpeazu himself, who voted and are still willing to vote again in a rerun, are disenfranchised”.