Residents of Umuahia, the Abia State capital, trooped to the streets in their thousands on Tuesday to protest the judgment of the National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, which upheld the election of immediate past governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji for Abia Central Senatorial District.
The irate residents, who chanted anti-Orji songs, carried placards with various inscriptions, such as ‘’Abia youths reject tribunal’s judgment,’’ ‘’Orji bought over the tribunal members,’’ ‘’Orji stole Abia state red’’ and ‘’We did not vote for Orji’’ and ‘’Ahamdi Nweke is our senator,’’ among other uncharitable descriptions concerning the former governor.
The protesters who were made up of traders and students, further decried the judgments so far delivered by the tribunal on the March 28 general elections in the state.
A trader, who identified himself simply as Austin from Umuafai-Ndume Umuahia, said ‘’Orji is our in-law but nobody from this community voted for him during the election.
‘’Orji is a wicked and greedy man, he was the worst governor Abia state has ever produced.
‘’Look at our community, we have no road, no pipe-borne water and our youths have no job, yet Orji, his wife and son looted the state,’’ Austin said.
Kingsley Onwuegbu, an undergraduate, expressed worry over the judgment of the tribunal, saying ‘’on what basis was Orji declared winner by the tribunal, when he lost the election in his Ugba polling unit?’’
Speaking in the same vein, Orji’s fellow kinsman said on the condition of anonymity that ‘’our people resolved during the election not to vote for Orji because he did nothing for our community.
‘’Go to my village and see the degree of neglect by Orji’s eight year administration,’’ he said, adding that the area had been ravaged by erosion, which had rendered the roads impassable during the rainy season.
The protesters decried the role of the staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Umuahia which, according to them, connived with Orji to rig the election and deny the people their choice candidate.
A human rights activist, Mr Godwin Okere, said: ‘’The judgments of the tribunal have shown that the members compromised and I weep for my state because this development has proven that our judiciary is for the highest bidders.
‘’The tribunal members have also shown bias and the fact that the judiciary is not the last hope of the common man.
‘’In Nigeria, the judiciary is an instrument used by the oppressors of the people and election riggers to legalise their illegalities during elections,’’ Okere said.
It took a heavily armed detachment of mobile policemen over an hour to contain and disperse the protesters, who were heading for the High Court premises on Ikot Ekpene Road, Umuahia, venue of the tribunal, to express their grouse over the judgments.
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