Anambra: INEC to decide date of supplementary poll tomorrow The leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission may meet in Abuja on Thursday to deliberate on and take decisions on the flawed Anambra State governorship election. The PUNCH learnt of this on Tuesday as the All Progressives Congress insisted on total cancellationof the poll. All the National Commissioners and the Resident Electoral Commissioners, who took part in the inconclusive election on Saturday, are expected to be in attendance at the crucial meeting. Top on the agenda are fixing a date for the conduct of the supplementary election in areas where elections were cancelled and the deployment of officers to carry out the exercise. The Public Relations Officer of INEC in Awka, Mr. Frank Egbo, referred enquiries on the matter to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Chukwuemeka Onukaogu. But Onukaogu could not be reached on telephone to comment on both the date for the supplementary election and the fate of the unnamed senior INEC official that was arrested for allegedly sabotaging the poll on Saturday. However, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, confirmed that a meeting was indeed scheduled. He said the meeting was a normal operational meeting by the leadership of INEC and was not meant for media coverage. According to him, there was nothing unusual about meeting to deliberate on issues which affect the operations of the commission, especially at a time a supplementary election is still being planned. Idowu said, “Yes there is a meeting but it is the normal operational meeting; it is not a media event. It is normal for the commission to meet to review strategies and look at issues which require urgent attention. “Don’t forget, we just held an election and it is not yet conclusive. There is a need to make plans for the supplementary election.” However, the APC insisted that INEC should cancel the entire election because about 1.3 million of the 1.7 million registered voters were unable to vote. In a statement by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party maintained that the commission did not wait for a court to cancel the National Assembly elections in 2011. It said, “In announcing the cancellation of the National Assembly elections in 2011, INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said, among others, that it was to ‘maintain the integrity of the elections and retain effective overall control of the process.” The APC said what happened in Anambra State was more disturbing because not only was the voter register tampered with, voting materials were either late or were not delivered at all. According to the party, it has become pertinent that Nigeria undertake a fresh voter registration because it is now obvious that the 2011 Voter register has been compromised. It added, “We are calling on Prof. Jega not to withhold the name of the main saboteur in Saturday’s poll, and to also investigate the level to which the voter register has been compromised, fish out all those involved, find out who their sponsors are and make all of them to face justice.” The APC described the roles of the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party in the ongoing debate over the Anambra election as very strange. It said conventional wisdom dictated that political parties take their bearing from their candidates on election day but in the case of the PDP and the Presidency, not only did they abandon their candidate, they disowned him by going ahead to describe the poll as free and fair. The party said, “It is now glaring to all that the disgrace that INEC has suffered from the Anambra debacle is because the electoral body is acting out a script written by the Presidency and the Progressives Grand Alliance for the election. “The claim by the PDP spokesman that our party is trying to discredit the entire electoral process is as shallow as it is laughable.” The APC wondered how more one could discredit an election that the organiser – INEC– had admitted was sabotaged by its own officials. The APC said the fact that even the PDP candidate and members of his immediate family could not find their names on the list of eligible voters proved that the voter register was tampered with.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 06:54:24 +0000
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