Onuigbo decries APC’s attempt to substitute winners
Samuel Onuigbo
Says Electoral Act 2022 equips INEC against impunity
Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Climate Change, Chief Sam Onuigbo (Ikwuano/Umuahia North/South Federal Constituency), has said that the Ninth National Assembly granted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) legal powers it needs as an impartial electoral umpire.
He disclosed that the fact that political parties have eight months after their primary elections to sort out any challenges shows how much effort and synergy went into the making of the Electoral Act 2022.
Onuigbo spoke to journalists in Abuja against the backdrop of recent attempts by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to upload, on the INEC portal, names of aspirants that did not participate in valid primaries.
He shared his experience at the Abia Central Senatorial primary of APC, where his name was being substituted with that of Emeka Atuma, who was a gubernatorial aspirant on the two rival factions of the party.
He said the attempt to supplant genuine winners of party primaries amounts to political gangsterism, stressing it is one area the Electoral Act 2022 enhanced the powers of INEC to be alive to its responsibilities.
He stated: “We were supposed to hold the primaries on May 28, which was the date announced by APC national headquarters in the notice for the primary. But, due to some bottlenecks, the chairman of the panel from Abuja, Izu Okeke, consulted with all of us and resolved to do it the next day so as to overcome bottlenecks.
“So, by the next day, we had the election and at the end of the day, I won. I defeated my closest opponent, Chief Henry Ikoh, by 157 to 152 votes. That was it. The Electoral Panel submitted their report signed by all five members to the office of the National Organising Secretary.
