The three Senators from Akwa Ibom State on Wednesday, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reverse results of the governorship election in the state and reschedule the polls.
The senators, who addressed National Assembly correspondents in Abuja, stressed that there was no election in the state.
Senator Ita Enang (APC-Akwa Ibom North-East), said he did not vote in his polling unit because the result sheets that were presented were mainly photocopies.
“In most areas in Akwa Ibom State, including my area, there were no elections; out of the 15 units in my Ward 2, only two of them were given photocopies of result sheets stapled together.
“There was no election; so no result ought to have been declared.
“Therefore, we are calling on the INEC to come out clean on this matter; no card reader was used in the state”, he added.
Senator Aloysius Etok (PDP- Akwa Ibom North-West), said the state had been mirrored in a very bad light over the years and had been made worse by the April 11 Governorship and State Assembly elections.
“As if that was not enough, during the first election on March 28, Akwa Ibom came out in bad light as one of the most talked about bordering on election irregularities and violence.
“On April 11, Akwa Ibom came out in bad light and having listened to all the comments from stakeholders and observers, as very concerned leaders, we need to address the issues.
“As a member of the PDP, I would like election to be freely won, if you lose, you lose gallantly; the process must be credible and transparent.
“Therefore, on behalf of the National Assembly caucus of the state, I want to say that I am very pained with the way the state has been projected to the world.
“It has been portrayed as a state full of violence and irregularities”, he said.
On her part, Senator Helen Esuene (Labour – Akwa Ibom South), said what happened in the state on April 11 could best be termed “daylight robbery.”
She said that more than half of the polling units in the state did not receive election materials while most of those that received had them carted away by heavily armed men.
“This year makes 16 years of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria; we should be improving our democratic processes vis-à-vis the elections and the election processes.
“I dare say that there has been no progress at all. What we experienced on April 11 was brazen day light robbery.’’
She also called on INEC to reverse the results and reschedule the elections in the state.
There is no law under our sun that permits Inec to reverse itself after having declared election results, all issues pertaining to electoral fraud et al are duties reserved under our constitution for The Election Tribunals. It is alarming the senators who are vested with making our laws do not know this… shameful as matter of fact.