Labour Party Candidate for Owerri West Constituency in the just concluded House of Assembly election, Hon. Precious Opara has described the 2023 general election as the worst since the current democratic dispensation.
He also described the declaration of the All Progressives Congress candidate, Hon Kanayo Onyemaechi as the winner for Owerri West Assembly seat as a pyrrhic victory, promising to reclaim his mandate in the court.
The LP candidate equally blamed Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC following the outcome of the poll, saying with the plethora of manipulations recorded in almost the 27 LGAs, real winners of the election are yet to be declared by the commission.
Opara, who spoke to Newsmen in Owerri, said he witnessed a fellow candidate in the race, moved about from one polling unit to another in company of thugs, security agents including those carrying armoured tanks to intimidate voters and commit all manner of electoral fraud.
“I then realized that I wasn’t just contesting with my fellow candidate of another party, rather I contested against the ruling government in power.”
“Even before police officers, APC members were buying votes with dollars”, he added, while stressing that despite the efforts of the ruling party to induce voters with money, Labour Party won in Owerri West convincingly.
Opara who queried if APC was the only party that contested the election, described the party’s victory in all the 27 LGAs as pyrrhic, sham and rape of democracy.
According to him, “a lot went wrong during and after the election. APC can’t win in the 27 LGAs. Of course you know that Labour Party is the peoples party. And the people were deprived of their mandate, because I am very sure I won in Owerri West. Go and check the results uploaded on IReV.”
He advised the people of Owerri West to remain law abiding, assuring them that the law will take its course, even as he urged the judiciary to ensure that those, no matter how highly placed, involved in electoral malpractices pay for their betrayal of the hopes and dreams of Nigerians.