Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) on Sunday declared all the 25 chairmanship candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as winners of the local government elections held last Saturday.
The PDP chairmanship candidates won the election in their respective local government areas, with landslide, according to the returning officers.
Declaring them winner in Asaba, capital of Delta State, chairman of DSIEC, Mr Mike Ogbodu said the election was conducted in observance of COVID-19 protocols, saying that the exercise was generally peaceful.
Although, the All Progressives Congress (APC) which is the main opposition party, pulled out midway into the polls, the returning officers insisted that the elections were contested.
Publicity secretary of the APC in the state, Sylvester Imonina had in a statement on Saturday during the polls, said the party was pulling out as a result of late arrival of materials and missing result sheets in some cases.
However, protesting APC faithful from Aniocha North Local Government Area stormed DSIEC head office on Sunday, alleging that the mandate of the party’s candidate for Issele-Azagba ward 06, Samson Uwandulu was hijacked by the PDP.
Uwandulu who spoke with journalists, said he scored a total of 408 votes to defeat the PDP candidate who polled 317 votes.
He alleged that after counting and collation of votes, it was clear that he had won, adding that before the final result could be announced, PDP officials hijacked the ward returning officer.
Uwandulu appealed to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to prevail on DSIEC restore his mandate.
A leader of the APC in the locality, Mr. Gabriel Uwaje, stated that the people of Issele-Azagba have been restive since the mandate was hijacked, and appealed to the relevant authorities to do the needful to restore normalcy.
