I Was Deceived By BVAS, Says Okezie Ikpeazu

Abia State governor, Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu has said he is one of the people deceived by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the just concluded general elections in the country.

Ikpeazu contested and lost his bid to represent Abia South senatorial district to APGA’s Enyinnaya Abaribe. He also failed in his bid to install a preferred successor as Abia governor, Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Ahiwe was defeated by Labour Party’s Alex Otti who will be sworn-in May 29 upon the expiration of Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu’s tenure in office.

The governor however says he erroneously believed that BVAS deployed by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC would have enhanced the credibility of elections but it was not so.

In an interview with Daily Trust, the outgoing governor said over over 100,000 voters were not allowed to vote in one of the local governments under his senatorial district but however did not address its link with the BVAS.

According to the governor, “To be frank with you, I’m one of the people that the BVAS deceived. I’m one of the people who believed the stories around BVAS. No two elections are the same and this particular season of the election was difficult. I give you an example, at some point, more than 102 polling units with more than 100,000 registered voters could not vote in one of the LGAs in our senatorial district.

“The margin of lead for the first three candidates was not up to 30,000. Ordinarily, when the margin of lead is not up to what is outstanding, the right thing should be done. Again, the same election was declared inconclusive at some point by the same INEC returning officer who later came back to say she was now ready to declare the results as directed from “above”. That is obviously neither here nor there.

“The Nigerian system creates victims and creates scenarios of varying victory, but I said to myself, that I needed to teach Nigerians that, though an incumbent, if you try an election and it doesn’t work, you can move on. Especially if you really think that it is a call to serve.”

The state chief executive said even with his busy schedule as a governor, he was able to write a book in Biochemistry.

While underlining that he is not a combat, Ikpeazu indicated readiness to get busy doing other things in other spheres of human endeavour where he has calling.

“I think I have given my eight years, no vacation, and never slept anytime earlier than 2am. My family needs me too and I need to take a break, so, I have moved on”, he stated.