The Labour Party (LP) candidate in Abia State, Alex Otti, was declared the governor-elect in the state. Returning Officer, Professor Nnenna Oti, declared that result.
The March 18 gubernatorial and the house of assembly elections were held in 28 states in Nigeria.
In Abia state, the Labour Party defeated Okey Ahiwe of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
Mr Otti’s win was followed by jubilation and tears of joy across the state.
Bribe Offering
The election had dragged on after other states’ results were released.
In fact, after the election results were announced, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer in the Abia State governorship election, Professor Nnenna Oti, got several accolades.
People wondered why the election result dragged.
Days after the results of the election was announced, the returning officer is making some revelations.
She says that she was offered money to manipulate the election results.
Before Mr Otti was declared the governor-elect, collation of the results for Obingwa Local Government Area (LGA) was briefly suspended by INEC.
The suspension aroused tension amongst the electorate and stakeholders in the state.
Also, the returning officer says that before the final declaration of the result, she was promised a huge sum of money.
‘If I Perish, I Perish’
According to the Soil expert, the money was supposed to induce her to change the will and mandate of the people of Abia State.
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But she refused the offer and stood her ground to let the will of the people remain.
“As an electoral officer, I have never in my life participated in any election, but duty came calling.
“I made my enquiries from Abuja,” says Otti.
“If I perish, I perish. They came with their threats, they came with their money, they came with their intimidation,” she said.
According to her, she stood on her principles to ensure that the will of the people of Abia prevailed. She resolved to make sure that their votes prevailed.
“I didn’t start today; I stand here before God, Jesus Christ.
“I have never defrauded anyone, all I did was to declare the riot act as follows: Under me, votes must count.
“Under me, the people’s mandate will be upheld because I, Professor Nnenna Oti, can never do evil,” Otti says.
The returning officer declared that LP’s Alex Otti polled 175,467 votes to PDP’s Okey Ahiwe‘s 88,529.
It was the first time that another party other than the PDP will rule the state in a very long while.
