By Osahon Osahon
There was a mild drama at the INEC State Collation Centre for the Anambra State governorship election in Awka, the state capital on Sunday, when the returning officer in charge of Orumba local government area, Dr. Michael Otu, argued that he signed results from the area under duress and does not believed in what he signed.
He accused the electoral officer that was supposed to work with him of collaborating with some people to scuttle the election results in the area.
He stated this while delivering his report to the State Returning Officer, Prof. Florence Obi, at the ongoing election result collation, adding that there was no election in the entire local government area.
He said a crisis formented by police operatives led to him signing the result under duress.
According to him, “I signed a report I didn’t believe in. I signed it under duress. I was tear-gassed. I was locked in the toilet, until a policeman smuggled me out.
“I could not even go out to ease my self. They were monitoring me up and down. At a point, I saw that my life was in danger, so, I have to sign the results they prepared.
“I called out to my colleagues to tell them that I was in danger here,” he narrated.
Responding to the allegation, the electoral officer who did not gave her name, accused the returning officer of not knowing anything about collating election results.
“This man here has said so many things against me. But I observed that he has no experience in collating election results.
“This man does not know his left from his right. The result is full of mutilation. He does not know the difference between conducting election and and collating results.
Confirming the story, Prof. Florence Obi, said that she was told about the crisis in the local government area.
According to her, “This is the only local government I had a distress call from and I had to call the commissioner of police and told him that the lives of my staff are in danger,” she said.
As it is, a winner might not emerge from the election today, as there was no results declared for Orumba and Ihiala local government areas
