After weeks of contention, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has finally declared the Accord Party candidate for the Ideato South State Assembly election in Imo State, Ichie Vitalis Azodo, as the winner of the election.
Azodo won the election following completion of Supplementary Election last weekend.
The supplementary election which held on April 15 and scheduled for just seven polling units in Azodo’s Ugbelle Ward was thoroughly militarised by state actors who deployed two Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC), intended to intimidate voters and Ichie Azodo’s kinsmen who had vowed to vote him massively.
While the intimidation succeeded, it still did not deliver victory to the ruling party which was desperate to deliver the APC candidate in the election.
Fortunately for Azodo, the scare tactics deployed by the state further suppressed voter participation in the election making it impossible for the APC forces to achieve any accreditation figure above the margin of lead recorded by Ichie Vitalis Azodo in the first election.
Based on available results, corroborated by results posted on INEC IREV portal, both of which indicated that Azodo has won the election, INEC was left without any option than to declare the Accord Party candidate, Ichie Vitalis Azodo, as the rightful winner of the election and return him elected.
Credit: Leadership