By David Lawani
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu has appealed to political parties participating in the Anambra Governorship election to exercise restraints in their utterances during the forthcoming poll stressing that the atmosphere is already saturated and there will not need to overheat the system.
Yakubu made these remarks in an appeal when he meet with 18 political parties Chairmen, secretaries and their representatives at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
He noted that the Commission has successfully registered 2,525,471 voters in Anambra including 77,475 registrants recorded in the First Quarter of the CVR exercise on 5th September 2021. He said those who had their registration in 2019 and had to re-registered afresh after it was detected was cancelled since it was not in the plan of the Commission to condone double registration.
According to him: ” I wish to appeal to all political parties and candidates not to exacerbate the feeling of insecurity in Anambra State through unguarded utterances and actions. This could compound the security situation and make the work of the Commission, political parties and security agencies even more difficult. It may also lead to voter apathy.
” This moment calls for statesmanship and maturity hence the decision to convene this emergency meeting. We are confident that the outcome of this engagement will be productive and helpful to the Commission and political parties as we continue to prepare for the Anambra Governorship holding on Saturday 6th November 2021.
” Consequently, the number of valid registrants in Anambra State at the end of the First Quarter of the CVR exercise on 5th September 2021 is 77,475. This figure has been added to the existing register of 2,447,996 eligible voters used for the 2019 General Election. Accordingly, the number of registered voters in Anambra State now stands at 2,525,471. We shall provide a detailed breakdown of the figure for public information in the days ahead.
The INEC boss added that this emergency meeting has become necessary to brief political parties on the Commission’s preparations for the election and to discuss recent developments in the State beginning with the registration of voters and compilation of the voters’ register.
He said before the end of the First Quarter of the CVR nationwide, the Commission devolved the exercise to the Wards or Registration Areas in Anambra State. The end of registration was followed by the cleanup of the data to remove the names of ineligible registrants before the printing of the Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs).
He said: ” In Anambra State, a total of 138,802 citizens completed the registration, including applications for transfer and requests for replacement of lost, damaged or defaced PVCs as required by law. However, in the process of cleaning up the registration data, we discovered that many previously registered persons re-registered afresh.
As a testimony to the effectiveness of our new system for checking double and multiple registrations, the Commission found out that some 62,698 persons who are already registered voters in Anambra State went ahead to register again.
” These double or multiple registrations are invalid by law. We have archived these registrations and will not print new PVCs for them. Their old PVCs remain valid and they can use them to vote at the Polling Units where they registered and probably voted in previous elections.
The same cleaning up exercise is going on nationwide. As soon as it is over, the Commission will provide further details to Nigerians on the situation in other States of the Federation and action to be taken on the matter.
” Let me remind all Nigerians that the law prohibits double registration. The Commission appreciates the fact that the deployment of technology, including the online pre-registration, has simplified the process and made voter registration in Nigeria easier. However, the same technology has also made it easier for us to detect multiple registrations”, he said.
He stated further that the Commission has completed 10 out of 14 activities lined up for the election, noting that it has almost concluded the training of ad hoc staff and also appealing to the Anambrians that the Commission will every channel to reach out to them for the collection of their PVCs.
Yakubu said further: ” I am glad to report that we have already completed 10 out of 14 activities in our Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the Governorship election. Only yesterday, we published the final list of candidates in our State and Local Government offices in Anambra State and simultaneously uploaded the same information to our website and social media platfo
RMS. Furthermore, all the 18 political parties participating in the election were issued a soft copy of the updated register of voters at a meeting held in our State Office in Awka.
We are presently working on the printing of the PVCs. We shall use various channels, including e-mails and text messages, to contact the new voters to collect their PVCs before the election.
” We have almost completed the recruitment of ad hoc staff for the election. In all, about 26,000 election duty staff are required. Although there are still some minor shortfalls, we believe that we will complete the recruitment in time for their training scheduled to commence on 19th October 2021.
The training of other categories of staff, such as Electoral Officers (EOs) and Assistant Electoral Officers (AEOs) has been completed, while the training of Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs) will commence soon.
” Turning to voter accreditation, I wish to assure you that the Commission is committed to deploying the BVAS for electronic fingerprint and facial accreditation of voters.
The pilot deployment of the system in the Isoko South 1 State Constituency bye-election in Delta State held last month was very encouraging. For example, successful full biometric accreditation was 32.8% in the constituency during the 2019 General Election”, he said.
The Commission noted that it will use BVAS in the same constituency during the recent bye-election, successful accreditation sharply rose to 97.4%.
He said the Commission will continue to deploy appropriate technology to improve the electoral process. It reiterated that despite security challenges faced by it, it has gotten assurance from security agencies that they will ensure the poll is conducted smoothly. He said the Commission facilities that were under attack recently will not deter it from not conducting a free, and credible poll.
” Let me once again reiterate the position of the Commission that going forward, nobody will be allowed to vote in any election without successful biometric accreditation.
” You would recall that in May this year, our State office in Awka was attacked and the main building, collation centre and store were either completely or partially damaged. Also damaged in the attacks were 60% of non-sensitive materials for the election, including 326 generating sets and several Hilux vehicles, which we had assembled at Awka. I am glad to report that we have fully recovered from that attack.
The buildings have been completely reconstructed and renovated in readiness for the election. All the non-sensitive materials have either been procured afresh or sourced from neighbouring States and our Zonal stores. We are working assiduously with security agencies to ensure that such an attack does not happen again.
However, security remains a major challenge to our preparations. For the political parties, these heinous attacks have truncated campaigns, making voter mobilization and sensitization impossible.
Consequently, Anambra State is not in the usual election mood. It is in the light of the security situation in the State that the Commission held an emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) last Tuesday. The meeting was frank and productive.
” We are assured of the determination of the security agencies to protect voters, election staff, election observers, the media, transport providers and candidates during the election.
Already, security around INEC facilities in the State has been ramped up. We are also confident that the heightened deployment of security officials, which is expected in the coming weeks, will further give citizens the confidence to turn up and vote on Election Day. We shall continue to work with the security agencies to ensure that the election is successful and violence-free”, he noted.
A total number of these political parties were in attendance during the emergency includes; ADP, ADC, APC, APGA, PDP, SDP, APN, LP, NRM, NNPP, YPP, ZLP, AA.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Dr Leonard Nzenwa responding on behalf of other political parties present during the meeting said the body never envisaged it will meet this level of heightened fear but seeing the way the politics have been activated on a high auto drive by unpatriotic forces bent on destroying the polity, and the country, he said he concluded there was an urgent need for a meeting of this nature.
He said further that Anambra is a major corridor to the Southeast and there is every need to ensure peace and security because of its strategic nature. The group charged INEC not to be discouraged by the uncooperative of the national assembly in its resolve to deploy its new technology in transmitting election.
According to him: ” Anambra is a major corridor to the southeast. It is a haven for both local and international trade. If the Anambra election is gotten right, an election in the southeast will be okay.
And also, it will be a pat like the Ondo and Edo elections.
We do commend INEC as we go on in this particular collective effort but we encourage them that despite the challenges they are facing and also the uncooperative attitude of the national assembly regarding the transmission of electoral results, we do say with all emphasis and responsibility that INEC should go ahead with the support of all political parties, the transmission of electronic election result is something we all welcome with.
With this, we are very confident that the election will hold and we all encourage every Nigerian to also have a good election in Anambra.
” We the Inter-party Advisory Council, IPAC, began extensive consultations with our candidates and members across the country especially Anambra state. We initially underestimated the havoc inflicted on the Anambra people and the polity until we dispatch a fact-finding mission team led by IPAC Chairman in the state and his exco with other national officers.
” The report we got was heartbreaking. Skewed pictures of beheaded Anambra people, fractured bones of innocent Anambra people littered many parts of the state. Fear struck Anambrarians hide wherever safe they could find themselves. When combined with sordid images spread virally through major social media platforms, it became very clear that these forces, demonically have inebriated themselves as unknown gunmen were bent on reenacting 1980 Columbia night carnage in Anambra.
This shook the whole world and left everyone speechless and horrified.
” Convening this meeting, in response to happenings in Anambra is not only strategic, but a well thought out intervention to seek out a more creative, humane, and result-oriented means to address hydra-headed anarchical side brush that needs to be tame urgently and immediately allow the good people Anambra to express their political will and elect the candidate of their choice as the next governor of the state”, he said.
He noted further that IPAC has concluded plans to continue to assist with support in whichever way it can stress that cowing Anambra people will not be the best way to disrupt the poll. He said to gladden the hearts of every party member when they learnt security agents have been deploy to maintain the volatile peace in the state.
” IPAC has resolved that it will support, sponsor, promote, and partner with the commission as it has always done to conduct free, fair, credible, inclusive, and high safety ladder polls. And we are committed that this is not negotiable. Cowing Anambra people not to come out to vote is the same as frightening all Nigerians to hide their tails in between their legs as they are required to vote thereby worsening the high voter apathy which we have all been trying to manage.
” We note with greater responsibility, take full cognizance of the timeline following already scheduled by the commission and endorsed by all stakeholders in the conduct of the Anambra poll on November 6th, 2021, will do everything to ensure the poll hold without any let or hindrance. And, to the extent that the federal government should mobilize men, its agencies, and might to reclaim ungoverned spaces and restore law and order in that state.
And decapitate these ubiquitous unknown gunmen. Remarkably, these inimical distractions are perpetrated by non-state actors and criminal elements among specifically political parties candidates or their members.
” In this regard, we have directed some parties which will receive reports and profile their members in Anambra state and some states in South East with a view for them to keep their houses in order.
We acknowledged the challenges the commission has faced in its efforts to conduct continuous voters registration exercises in Anambra state and other bottlenecks. We however encourage the commission to soldier on and not to be deterred but to go ahead using all the new technology recently introduced in the conduct of the Isoko election.
” We just got a report now that security is in Anambra now. We are happy and elated that some level of normalcy will come into Anambra state to boost the confidence of the people in that state for this election to hold. Let us reiterate at this moment that this is a collective job and activity by every one of us. It is not only the job of INEC, or political parties, it is not only the job of members of political parties. The media houses have a significant role to play in this particular effort. We do note that Anambra is very strategic for so many reasons”, he said.
