A civil society group, Citizens’ Advocacy for Social & Economic Rights (CASER), has threatened to mobilise the people of Imo West senatorial district, for a-1,000 man protest in Abuja if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fails to issue a certificate of return to Owelle Rochas Okorocha as the Senator-elect for Imo West senatorial district within seven days.
The Abuja-based group stated this in a letter dated May 2, 2019 addressed to the Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
Although the election’s Returning Officer, Professor Francis Ibeawuchi, had declared Okorocha winner of the Imo West senatorial election held on Saturday February 23, he later said the declaration was made under duress, thus INEC has refused to issue Okorocha a certificate of return.
However, CASER posited that Okorocha, having been declared winner in the election, should have been issued the certificate of return alongside other elected members of the National Assembly.
The letter, signed by Andrew Korna on behalf of the Executive Director, stated that “The act of withholding the certificate of a declared winner in an election is not just a clear case of abuse of constitutional powers by INEC, but it has become a painful denigration of a supposedly independent, impartial and unbiased electoral umpire that has now become embroiled and tainted with the corrupt vestiges of partisan politics.”
CASER stressed that INEC, being a creation of the laws of the land should be guided by the laws at all times, adding that “It is strange and highly despicable that on the basis of mere hearsay, INEC will withhold the certificate of return of Okorocha after being declared winner by a Returning Officer appointed by the same INEC.”
The group also said that by withholding Okorocha’s certificate of return, INEC risked jeopardising its hard-earned credibility.
CASER, therefore, enjoined INEC to toe the path of honour by issuing a certificate of return to Owelle Rochas Okorocha within seven days of receiving the letter.
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