Anambra gov poll inconclusive

Voters being accredited for the 2013 Anambra governorship election in Enugwu-Uku ... on Saturday.

The governorship election held in Anambra State on Saturday could not be concluded. The Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission attributed the development to logistics problems.

Elections in 65 polling units in Idemili North Local Government Area were cancelled. The Public Relations Officer of the state electoral commission, Mr. Frank Egbo,  who confirmed the cancellation to SUNDAY PUNCH, said, “The election was cancelled because of logistics issues. The elections will be conducted Sunday (today)in those areas,”

Meanwhile, some of the early results received are as follows: Atupolum Unit 003, Nimo Ward in Njikoka LGA, APGA 64; APC 32. Atupolum Unit 004, Nimo Ward, Njikoka Local Government Area: APGA 84; APC 28. At Arroma Unit 1, Awka South Local Government Area: APGA 45; APC 25; Arroma Unit 2; APGA 34; APC 33. Permanent Site Government House, Awka: APGA 50; APC 51. Ogidi Town Hall Idemili North LGA: APGA 23; APC 58; PDP 22. Polling Unit 010: Ogidi Town Hall: APGA 8; APC39; PDP 14.

Nimo Ward 3, Njikoka LGA results were as follows: APGA 639; APC 246: PDP 179; LP 26 and PPA 7.

SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that 349 collation and returning officers were brought in from Calabar, but the Cross River State Resident Electoral Officer, Mr. Mike Igini, who was one of the 15 RECs invited to coordinate the Anambra election, was conspicuously absent.

Though the election was peaceful in most of the places covered by SUNDAY PUNCH, there were serious complaints of irregularities in areas where opposition candidates had strong support base.

The candidate of the PDP, Mr. Tony Nwoye, could not vote at the Offia Nta Nsugbe Ward 1 unit 008 because he could not find his name on the voter register.

“We couldn’t even find the names of my father, my mother my uncle and wife on the register. When I first came at 10am this morning, the INEC officials told me they would trace the anomaly and rectify it,” he said.

Nwoye returned to the polling unit at 3:30pm to still find out that nothing could be done about his name missing in the register. He said out of the 500 names on the register, only fifty people could find their names.

Similarly, Mr. Arthur Eze, a major financier of the PDP also could not find his name on the voter register at his polling station at Ukpo Ward, Dunukofia Local Government Area.

Electoral materials were on Saturday in short supplies in most of the polling units in the stronghold of the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress, Dr. Chris Ngige, and his Labour Party counterpart, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah.

While Ngige had lamented that the attempt was aimed at reducing the votes in his areas of strength, Ubah had alleged sabotage by the electoral body.

Ngige said he felt betrayed by INEC, which had promised during the stakeholders meeting to make materials available at the voting early enough. He said the intention of INEC was to prevent his supporters from voting.

SUNDAY PUNCH observed that there were no result sheets in most of the polling units visited in Alor and Uke in Idemili South.

It was also gathered that the National Youth Service Corps members who were used as presiding officers in Idemili North LGA, which is a strong base of Ngige, embarked on strike in the early hours of the day on the pretext that they were not paid their allowances.

According to Ngige, who spoke shortly after casting his vote at about 1:30pm, the shortage of electoral materials was a deliberate attempt to reduce his votes in his stronghold.

It was gathered that most voters in the affected places could not find their names in the voter register, even as it was discovered that the few places were electoral materials arrived had no result sheets.

Ngige said, “From the reports reaching me directly, we discovered that there is a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise Awka South, Idemili North, Idemili South, Dunukofia among others. Idemili North alone has 180, 000 voters.

 “With this, we can say that there is a deliberate attempt to suppress the wishes of Anambra central people. I don’t have confidence on the Resident Electoral Commissioner when I contested in 2010 and I have petitioned INEC that he should not be allowed to conduct this election. Why is it in my strongholds that the NYSC ad-hoc staff will go on strike?”

Ngige had drawn the attention of international observers from the European Union to the shortage of materials in his strongholds.

He told the observers that the short supply was a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise his supporters in his strongholds.

Also speaking at his Nnewi home, Ubah lamented that most eligible voters at his Nnewi Ichi ward 2 polling unit were disenfranchised.

“What I can say is that there are a lot of inconsistencies, especially on the voter register. For instance, in a ward that has about 700 voters, you will discover that only seventeen names will be found in the register. This situation does not speak well and does signal that we will have a free and fair exercise,” Ubah added.

Similarly, the candidate the Progressive Peoples Alliance, Chief Godwin Ezeemo regretted the late commencement of accreditation at his Umuchu Ward 1 polling unit.

He said the late commencement of accreditation may have caused the voter apathy witnessed in the election.

Ezeemo also said that he had lost hope in the whole process, as he believed the election and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission had been compromised.

He said, ‘’For me, I am just going out there to vote and fulfil all righteousness as I don’t expect anything good to come out of this.’’

At Igbo-Ukwu in Aguata Local Government Area, the former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwumeka Ezeife, described the election as not important to the people of the state.

Ezeife said that those who should have been the best candidates were schemed out of the process, saying Anambra indigenes had no option but to accept whoever emerges.

He said, “As it is now, we have no other option but to accept whosoever God gives to us and keep praying that all will be well with Anambra State.”

Ezeife, however, stated that future elections in the state would be totally different from the election. “With the proposed national dialogue, I am very confident that things would work for the better and the next election in Anambra State would be devoid of these irregularities,’ he said.