I'M NOT CONFUSED -AKUNYILI

The former information minister was reacting yesterday to a media report that she said portrayed her as ignorant of what over-voting meant, ''as if she could not distinguish between total votes and valid votes.'

The former boss of NAFDAC, however, insisted that there was over-voting in 1,500 polling booths and that only one booth was found to have an error in favour of APGA.

'Why didn't they highlight the numerous other polling booths where there was change of figures in favour of ACN?' she queried.

Akunyili maintained that ordinarily, she would not have reacted to the report if not for the fact that her silence would have been misinterpreted.

She equally pointed out that the particular incident would not be the first time her opponent would be up to such tricks.

Akunyili said the matter had been taken to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and that she was calling on the commission to make public its findings on the matter so that the guilty parties would face the full wrath of the law. 'Thank God ICPC is investigating the Anene saga and the public will soon be availed of the true facts and those behind the lies will be punished. We pray it doesn't go the way of many investigations in the past. We're in an era of transformation and we expect it to be made public,' she stated.

She accused her opponent of fighting to thwart the course of justice by severally trying to frustrate the case. She recalled how they petitioned against the tribunal and even boasted it would be sacked and when that failed, they came before the same tribunal to apologise and claim they did not know who wrote the petition. 'It's ridiculous; this is part of the plot to rubbish this case. They should see the hand of God in this matter and leave things as they are. They shouldn't move against God,' she stated.

She said when initially her case was struck out she never said a word against anybody but that today Ngige had continued to wage war against the tribunal and malign it, an action she said, was occasioned by fear of imminent defeat. Akunyili, however, advised her opponent to allow the tribunal to do its job in peace as no amount of intimidation could change the course of history. She said it's against the law to try a case on the pages of newspaper and noted that the said reports against her were either one-sided or false.