The National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Samdaddy Anyanwu, Monday, called for arrest and prosecution of those behind the abduction of the ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the just concluded Imo State by-election of Ngor Okpala state constituency last Saturday.
Anyanwu made this call in a statement to newsmen in Owerri, on the outcome of the by-election.
According to him, the abduction of the ad-hoc staff of INEC showed the process was marred with irregularities.
Anyanwu said: “We want to condemn in strong terms the abduction of the Adhoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ngor Okpala State Constituency by-election. We described as despicable and fraudulent, the hijacking of INEC sensitive materials by political thugs suspected to be loyal to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The stealing of the INEC materials came after the news had gone to the public that the PDP candidate was leading in virtually all the polling booths and electoral wards in Ngor Okpala LGA.
“For the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Blyden Amajirionwu to be defeated in his polling booth is a confirmation that the PDP candidate, Jeff Nwachukwu was truly ahead of his closest challenger.
“We call on the security agencies in the state to immediately apprehend those behind the stealing and hijack of the election materials while appealing to PDP supporters to remain calm.”
The PDP, said: “The party will never accept anything less than free, fair and credible election even while I commend the party faithful for resisting all intimidations by APC to rig the poll.”