Political groups clash over Ihedioha’s victory

The Concerned Leaders of Political Parties on
Monday clashed with two other political groups
— the Grand Coalition of Political Parties and
Forum of Governorship candidates — over the
victory of the Imo State Governor , Chief Emeka
Ihedioha .
The CLPP , during a press conference in Abuja ,
faulted the declaration of Ihedioha , who was
the governorship candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party during the March 2019
governorship election , as the winner of the
election , by the Independent National Electoral
Commission .
The spokesman of the group, Mr Agbo Major ,
said it was wrong for the Imo State Election
Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal to
have also upheld Ihedioha ’ s victory.
Major , who is also the National Chairman of the
New Nigeria Peoples Party , alleged that
Ihedioha was not a product of genuine election .
He said , “ More worrisome are the
constitutional issues arising from the Imo State
governorship election being tossed around by
the judiciary .
“ For instance , the well - known thrust of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance and Senator Ifeanyi
Araraume ’ s election petition against the last
governorship election in Imo State , is the clear
breach of the constitution by INEC, through the
declaration and return of Ihedioha , as governor
of Imo State , despite his failure to meet the
constitutional minimum requirements of
scoring 25 per cent of the votes cast in at least
two- thirds of all the local government areas in
the state , in the last general election .
“ Imo State has 27 LGAs and two- thirds of 27 is
18 . Ihedioha only scored 25 per cent of the
votes cast in 11 LGAs out of 27 . The
requirement of Section 179 (2 ) of the 1999
Constitution as amended , in respect of spread ,
does not require any legal gymnastic for
interpretation. ”