Athan Achonu, Labour Party governorship candidate for Imo, and scores of his supporters on Thursday stormed the national headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Abuja to demand the true certified copy (CTC) of the just concluded poll in the state.

Achonu, who was accompanied by the National Youth Leader, Kennedy Ahanotu, also accused the electoral umpire of playing a double standard in the November 11 off-cycle election.

The protest came two weeks after INEC declared Governor Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress winner of the election.

The APC candidate polled 540,308 votes to beat Samuel Anyanwu of the Peoples Democratic Party who scored 71,503 votes and Achonu who could only secure 64,081 votes.

However, the two opposition candidates rejected the result and declared that the election was marred by electoral irregularities.

The long procession, which saw the demonstrators chanting solidarity songs and displaying various banners that read “INEC Give Us Our CTC” “Respect Our Law” and “INEC Has Become Headache to Nigerian People” caused a mild gridlock.

Addressing newsmen in front of the INEC building, Achonu accused the commission of deliberately refusing to give him a copy of the Imo poll CTC because they had something to hide.

The LP candidate stated that unlike what transpired in Bayelsa where it took three days to round up the election process, INEC collated Imo ballots and hurriedly announced the result in two hours.

He said, “When collation started after the voting, our state election agent duly asked INEC not to announce any result that collation started very early that day even when voting was going on. They were even uploading results on iREV when voting was taking place. So how did that happen? They were told to go to their backend server and confirm the result they were about to announce. But INEC refused to do that. The returning insisted they should go on because they had a hidden agenda.

“Meanwhile it took Bayelsa which has just eight local governments almost three days to announce their result. But in Imo which has 27 local governments, it took them just two hours to announce the result that was already uploaded.

“So we duly wrote to INEC asking them to review the election. They hurriedly announced the result, even before the seven days allowed for review lapsed. Up till today when we are speaking, we have not received the certified copy of that result despite writing them officially. We will not leave here today until we collect the CTC since INEC has refused to come out and address us.”

While the demonstration was ongoing, two INEC national commissioners, Mohammed Haruna and Prof Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, came out to address the group.

While urging the protesters to exercise patience, Haruna promised them their grievance would be addressed by the commission in earnest.

“We understand you have come here with a petition. The national chairman (Prof Yakubu Mahmood) asked the two of us to come here on his behalf on behalf to receive your petition. And I assure you (it will be addressed because this is your right.

“The CTC you requested is always collected at the state level. So we have a copy of your letter here now, I assure you it will attended to,” he stated.

Abba Yusuf, Kano State Governor, whose sacking by the electoral tribunal was upheld by the Court of Appeal on Friday, has vowed to reclaim his mandate at the Supreme Court.

The appeal court sitting in Abuja upheld the ruling of the tribunal that sacked Yusuf and declared Nasiru Gawuna of the All Progresives Congress the winner of the March 18 election.

In a broadcast on Friday night, Yusuf said he had instructed his legal team to challenge the appeal court-s ruling at the Supreme Court.

“We have consulted all stakeholders and resolved and decided that our lawyers should challenge the Appeal Court kudgment at the Supreme Court.

“We believe and have the confidence that the Supreme Court will reclaim the mandate of the Kano people who voted for us,” he said.

He urged the people to continue to go about their lawful activities as security agents have been directed to ensure law and order prevail in the state.

Earlier while reacting to the Appeal Court judgment, the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, said his party was waiting for Yusuf and the New Nigerian Peoples Party at the apex court.

He said, “I thank Allah for this important judgement. We have to thank the judiciary for providing good administration of justice despite all the distractions that took place since the beginning of the case.

“We have to thank the judiciary. There is no doubt this is a victory for democracy. It is a victory for APC and a victory for Kano State. This is an indication that democracy has come to stay in Nigeria. Democracy we can say is matured in Nigeria. We have to thank all those stakeholders, the political parties, even the NNPP that took us to the Appeal Court.

“For Kano State, this victory is for all of us. We are fully aware, we know what happened during the election; a lot of malpractices and we took the issue to the tribunal and by the grace of God, we got a fair judgement in favour of our great party, APC.

“Now, the government in power, the NNPP decided to go the Court of Appeal and this morning , by the power of God, the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgement of the lower court. And by so doing, our gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Nasiru Gawuna is the duly elected governor of Kano State.

“But in all, probably, they will go to the Supreme Court which is part of democracy. There is nothing wrong for them to go to the Supreme Court. We too, we are ready to meet them in Supreme Court. And Insha Allah, we will win at the Supreme Court as well.”

President Bola Tinubu, on Monday, congratulated the winners of the governorship elections in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo states.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted off-cycle elections in the three states to elect governors last Saturday.

In Imo, Hope Uzodinma, won a re-election while Usman Ododo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), won the election to succeed Yahaya Bello, who is completing his two-term of eight years.

Also, Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won his re-election in Bayelsa.

In a statement on Monday, Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spspokesperson, quoted Tinubu as saying that the victory of the politicians  “reflect the people’s wishes”.

“May your tenure in office be defined by close collaboration with all of your counterparts across party lines in the attainment of pan-Nigerian developmental achievements that benefit everyone, and may you lead at all times with compassion and a deepened commitment to our nation’s unity,” the statement reads.

“The outcome of the elections reflects the wishes of the people, emphasizing that democracy thrives when voters reward competence, transparency, and good governance.”

Tinubu said the winners should position their states as hubs of peace, commerce, entrepreneurship, and prosperity in Nigeria, adding that they should prioritise the common good of the people over partisan interests.