The Returning Officer for the March 18 governorship election in Abia State, southeast Nigeria, Professor Nnenna Oti, recently said she refused to compromise the state’s election despite threats and monetary inducement.

Development Diaries reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Labour Party’s Alex Otti as the winner of the election following the eventual declaration of the results of the controversial Obingwa local government area results.

Otti polled 175,467 votes to defeat Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Enyinnaya Nwafor of the Young Peoples Party (YPP).

Oti, who is the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), said she insisted that votes must count.

‘I made my enquires from Abuja and I said “If I perish, I perish”. They came with their threats, money, and intimidation but I stood my ground. I said under me, votes must count’, she said in a viral video.

But why is INEC silent?

From the statement of the returning officer, it is evident that a provision of the Electoral Act 2022 has been violated. Why then is INEC silent after this statement? Why have investigations not commenced?

Section 121, subsection one of the Act provides that any person who endeavours to give bribes for an intent during an election is liable to a maximum fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of 12 months or both.

The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, announced in March 2023, before the governorship elections, that the commission was setting up a legal team to deal with cases of electoral offenders.

Development Diaries, therefore, calls on INEC and the Nigerian police to promptly begin an investigation into Professor Oti’s claims and other cases related to electoral offence and bring violators to book.