Protest as PDP sweeps Delta council polls

Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) on Sunday in Asaba returned all the 25 chairmanship candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as winners in Saturday’s local government elections.

The PDP chairmanship candidates won the election in their respective local government areas, with a landslide, according to the various returning officers.

Declaring the announcement of results open, chairman of DSIEC, Mike Ogbodu said the election was conducted in observance of COVID-19 protocols, adding that the exercise was generally peaceful.

Although the All Progressive Congress (APC) which is the main opposition party, pulled out midway into the polls, the returning officers insisted that the elections were contested.

The publicity secretary of the APC in the state, Sylvester Imonina had in a statement on Saturday during the polls, said the party was pulling out as a result of late arrival of materials and missing result sheets in some cases.

However, protesting APC faithful from Aniocha North Local Government Area stormed DSIEC head office on Sunday, alleging that the mandate of the party’s candidate for Issele-Azagba ward 06, Samson Uwandulu was hijacked by the PDP.

Uwandulu who spoke with journalists said he scored a total of 408 votes to defeat the PDP candidate who polled 317 votes.

He alleged that after counting and collation of votes, it was clear that he had won, adding that before the final result could be announced, PDP officials hijacked the ward returning officer.

Uwandulu appealed to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to prevail on DSIEC restore his mandate.

A leader of the APC in the locality, Mr Gabriel Uwaje, stated that the people of Issele-Azagba have been restive since the mandate was hijacked, and appealed to the relevant authorities to do the needful to restore normalcy.

Asked if he was aware that his party pulled out of the exercise midway, he said the people of Issele-Azagba were not aware of such development, insisting that the mandate was freely given to Uwandulu for effective representation at the council.