INEC Returning Officer, Otti, reveals how she resisted monetary offer, threats, pressures to manipulate Abia gov election result

The Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abia State for the march 18 governorship election, Prof. Nnenna Otti, Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo State, on her reception by the management, staff and students of the university, narrated how she was offered bribe, threatened and pressurised to manipulate election results in Abia State.
Prof. Otti revealed that she was promised huge sum of money to alter figures and change the will and mandate of the people of Abia before the announcement of the final result; noting that she resisted the offers, and remained resolute in the face of heavy intimidation and threats.
Prof. Otti had stated: “As an electoral officer, I have never in my life participated in any election, but duty came calling, I made my enquiries from Abuja.
“If I perish, I perish, they came with their threats, they came with their money, they came with their intimidation.
“I didn’t start today; I stand here before God, Jesus Christ. I have never defrauded anyone, all I did was to declare the riot act as follows: Under me, votes must count. Under me, the people’s mandate will be upheld because I, Professor Nnnena Otti, can never do evil.”
She made the revelation at the reception organised by the university for her on Tuesday.
The collation of the results for Obingwa Local Government Area (LGA) was temporarily suspended by INEC following controversies. The Returning Officers later declared the final results of the governorship election in Abia State won by the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Alex Otti, who had 175,467 votes, while Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had 88,529 votes.