After weeks of contention, the Independent National Electoral Commission has finally declared Accord Party candidate for the Ideato South State Assembly election, Ichie Vitalis Azodo, as the winner of the election.
Azodo had won the first election held March 18, 2023 in spite of the abduction of all the electoral officers posted to the seven polling units in his Ugbelle ward, denying his people the chance to vote for him.
According to reports, “the supplementary election which held on April 15 and scheduled just for the seven polling units in Ugbelle was thoroughly militarised by state actors who deployed two Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC), known and unknown gunmen in Police and Ebubeagu garb all 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 Azodo in the first election.”
Based on available results, corroborated by results posted on INEC IREV portal, both of which indicate that Azodo has won the election, INEC was left without any option than to declare the Accord Party candidate as the rightful winner of the election and return him elected.
