By David Lawani
The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu has expressed confidence that despite the attempt by attackers to frustrate efforts the Commission has put in place to enable conduct free, fair and credible Anambra governorship election, it is prepared for the election.
Yakubu made this assertion when he hosted an emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja with a view to sharing ideas on how to secure the Anambra Election free from all disruptions.
He said the plans of the unknown attackers is to ensure that they destroy everything thereby preventing the Commission from going ahead with its preparations. He said it is worrisome and no stone will be left untouched in making sure that the dream of Voters is realising in voting their best candidate during the poll.
He said: ” We are confident that at the end of this meeting, we will firm up on specific measures necessary to further guarantee the safety of all persons involved in the election from the voters, election officials, observers, media organisations and the security of election materials.
“From the reports, we have received, the stated goal of many of the attackers is that the Governorship election scheduled for 6th November 2021 must not hold. This is worrisome for the Commission.
We are deeply concerned that specific electoral facilities and materials could once more become targets of attack. Recall that in May this year, our State Office at Awka was attacked and all the non-sensitive materials assembled for the election at the time were destroyed. In addition, our store, collation centre and the main office building were either totally or substantially damaged. The Commission also lost several vehicles to be used for the election.
” Happily, we have almost fully recovered from that attack. The destroyed buildings have either been completely repaired or are nearing completion and we have fully replaced the materials destroyed. This rapid recovery has only been possible because this is an off-season election. We have sourced some of these materials such as the 326 electric generators and vehicles destroyed in the attack from neighbouring States. However, should we again lose vital materials and facilities, the ongoing preparations will be adversely affected”, he said.
He noted further that the Commission in collaboration with the security agencies will do everything in protecting the voters, staff and members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, against the fears being peddled in the minds of many by these attackers.
“The Commission is particularly concerned about the safety of voters and Election Day staff, including security officials who have also become the targets of these attacks. The thousands of young Nigerians that we intend to deploy for the election, most of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members and university students, need to be reassured of their personal safety.
“At the same time, deployment for the election will involve the movement of huge consignments of sensitive and non-sensitive materials to the 21 Local Government Areas of the State, 326 Wards or Registration Areas and 5,720 Polling Units. That means over 6,000 locations to be protected. If we add that to about 26,000 officials that will be deployed for the election, we begin to appreciate the magnitude of the challenge of securing the Anambra Governorship election which is only thirty-two (32) days from today.
“Perhaps never before in our history has the importance of election security in a Governorship election been this urgent. The Commission is aware that this is by no means an easy task. We appreciate the enormous challenges that the security agencies are presently facing in Anambra State, which entail not only securing the electoral process but also enforcing law and order generally. This is particularly worrisome because the security agencies have also become prime targets of these mindless attacks.
“We wish to assure the people of Anambra State that the Commission is determined to proceed with the election as scheduled. To underscore this determination, the Commission is implementing two more activities on the Timetable for the election in the next few days. The register of voters will be presented to political parties in Awka on Thursday 7th October 2021. On the same day, the Commission will publish the final list of candidates for the election”, Yakubu said.
The NSA who is unavoidably absent due to another National assignment wishes to express his appreciation to all ICCESS members for honouring this emergency meeting.
Making the remarks on behalf of the NSA, Sanusi Galadima in his view said the office of the NSA is fully in sync with all modalities in place to ensure the conduct of the election is peaceful and orderly.
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According to him: ” We are all aware the Anambra State Gubernatorial Election, is barely one (1) month away and the security threat posed by violent activities of separatist groups in the South-East region is bent on scuffling the election in the State in furtherance of their separatist agenda. Undoubtedly, this constitutes a clear and present danger to the national democratic process and consolidation.
” I wish to state that ONSA, is working assiduously with relevant security and intelligence agencies towards arresting the foregoing ugly trend and other associated security challenges in the South-East zone and beyond. This determination of the presidency is already been translated into action by the recent joint Military operation code-named “Golden Dawn” in the South-East as well as other security operations across the country. This is in addition to the increasing collaboration between the Federal and South-East Governors towards addressing the underlying socio-economic drivers of insecurity in the region.
“Once again, ONSA wish to reiterate the Federal Government commitment for the protection of lives and property of all law-abiding citizens before during and after the elections, while, finally calling on all peace-loving Nigerians of the South-East extraction to join hands with constituted authority to promote peace and development across the region and beyond”, he noted.
