New Telegraph Admin 
Senator representing Abia North senatorial district, Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu, has said that he has no hand in the alleged disenfranchisement of the people of Abiriba in Ohafia Local Government area in the February 25 National Assembly elections.
This is even as he said that the allegation that he accused Agboji and Ameke communities in Abiriba of being sympathetic to the agitations of IPOB, hence voters did not come out to exercise their civic right is false and unfounded.
The former Abia governor’s response comes on the heels of a group Abiriba Communal Improvement Union (ACIU) insisted that Sen. Kalu’s alleged comment was instrumental to why they did not vote on Election Day over fear of being attacked.
ACIU in a paid newspaper advertorial said Sen. Kalu’s alleged comment caused INEC not to deploy its officials to the community, which according to the union eventually disenfranchised some of their people.
The community in the paid advert severally contradicted itself. At some points, it claims INEC officials did not show up for the conduct of the National Assembly election in the community, at others, it says they came but at an inappropriate time. “INEC did not show up till about 3:20pm on that fateful day.
“When they eventually arrived, particularly in Agboji ward that has ten polling units, they claimed they did not have adequate voting materials”, the advertorial on THISDAY newspaper read in part. But in response to this allegation, Kalu’s media aide, Maduka Okoro, said there is no iota of truth in ACIU’s allegation, as he added that Kalu does not deploy INEC officials, hence he cannot be accused of being responsible for the alleged disenfranchisement of the people of Abiriba.
According to Okoro, the threat by IPOB to unleash mayhem largely affected the turnout of voters in the senatorial district, noting that his Principal, Senator Kalu never mentioned Abiriba with regards to membership of IPOB. He said the security agencies were on ground and documented that the apathy witnessed in some polling units in Abiriba was as a result of a threat by IPOB, a report corroborated by INEC’s.
