Sly Ezokenwa, Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has dismissed allegations by opposition parties that the Anambra by-election of August 16 was marred by sabotage and voter intimidation, insisting that the exercise was one of the most credible elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Speaking in an interview with Arise News on Wednesday, Ezokenwa argued that the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) were only crying foul because they lacked structures and were roundly defeated at the polls.
“Well, let me start with the basic principle of law, that he who alleges has the onus of proof and I don’t think it is on us to begin to proffer reasons or provide evidences in support of the allegations of the so-called opposition.
“They have absolutely nothing to offer, and have decided to cry foul about a process, an election that has been adjudged by all and sundry, including election observers, as very credible.”
Ezokenwa, who said he was a “major player at that election,” asserted that, From the distribution of both sensitive and non-sensitive materials, up until the end of voting, entering a result sheet in various polling units, collation of results, and the ultimate declaration, it was a seamless process. In most polling units, at least I can say 95% of polling units, without exaggeration, materials arrived, as early as 8am. I’ve not seen INEC get it right with logistics as they did on August 16th.”
Responding to ADC’s claim that its agents were prevented from monitoring results, he said, “If you did not upload your agents to the dedicated portal, how will you have agents? Even the political party that you mentioned, the ADC, they don’t have any structure in Anambra state.
Absolutely no structure. The so-called candidate of the ADC is unknown, He lost his polling unit.”
On allegations that Governor Charles Soludo and APGA deployed operatives to intimidate voters, he said, “A day or two days before the election, we had an AIG, who announced that only conventional security agencies of the country are allowed to function at that election. To that extent, members of the Aguleri chamber, they were not part of the election at all.”
He accused APC candidate Hon. Azuka Okosa of abducting electoral officials, “Not allegation, we have irrefutable evidence. We have voice notes. We have videos. In fact, in one of the videos, you could see the president general of the community, outside the gate of Honourable Azuka Okosa.”
He added, “In the press conference that we had earlier today, we called for his arrest, an investigation. We have actually submitted a petition to the police in respect of that, because it is not something that should be swept under the carpet. Otherwise, future politicians may begin to think that that is the way to go in an election.”
Ezokenwa maintained that Anambra remains APGA stronghold, “Anambra is APGA land, From 2006, that Peter Obi took over, ultimately to Willie Obiano, and now, the giant strides we are witnessing under the present incumbent administration, Anambra people have not seen the reason for them to divorce the sanctity of the marriage that exists between Anambra and APGA.”
He dismissed suggestions that Governor Soludo plans to defect to the APC, stressing that Soludo has never said that he’s defecting, Ideologically, APGA, is ideologically aligned with the APC. We are progressives. The main thrust of our alignment is to actually advance the cause of progressivism in the country.”
On former President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent call for a separate registrar of political parties, Ezokenwa disagreed, “Part of the problem we have in this country is an unnecessary proliferation of agencies, There are so many agencies, so many bureaucracies that are stifling development in this country. And the more we call for proliferation, creating more agencies that serve no useful purpose, we are talking about reduction in cost of governance, yet still talking about proliferation of agencies to serve what purpose?”
He concluded with confidence about the November 8 polls, “We’ve never had an election where we won 77% of the vote cast and 99.4% of the polling units. You see why November 8th is even going to be much worse, In Anambra, we’re taking towards a consensus candidate.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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