Political leaders, candidates and voters in the Anambra State governorship elections have tales of woe to tell about the conduct of the exercise by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The admission of failure by its Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has also fuelled the fear that the umpire may repeat the mistakes in future elections, reports Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU and JOSEPH JIBUEZE.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had one year to prepare for the Anambra State governorship election. Following the Ondo State governorship poll, its Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said that the agency would focus on the next electoral challenge and ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated. However, not only were the mistakes repeated, the INEC emerged last weekend as the greatest obstacle to free and fair elections in the country.
The failure of the commission to hold a hitch-free poll has heightened the fear that future elections may also be jeopardised by the unpatriotic elements in the agency.
In many polling units, the ballot box was assaulted. The late arrival of polling materials, shortage of electoral manpower, absence of polling officers and disputed voters’ registers marred the poll. Where there were voting sheets, the result sheets were absent.
On Saturday, the election was inconclusive. Many polling areas had been excluded by the electoral officers without explanation In Obosi, Idemili Council, Onitsha, Nnewi and Awka, the state capital.. Many people returned home without exercising their franchise. Those who waited behind to protest the absence of their names on the register still forfeited their right to vote.
Alarmed at the glaring incompetence of the electoral officers, Jega admitted that a failed election was conducted by his men. He immediately handed over the Polling Officer in charge of Idemili Council to the police for interrogation.
The candidates and leaders of the political parties were embarrassed. Little did they think that the decision of the umpire to “clean up” the voter’s register will result into the massive disenfranchisement of voters.
“INEC has moved a step forward and several steps backward”, complained the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Dr. Chris Ngige. “We have reasons to believe that polling materials were not supplied deliberately to places considered as my areas of strength. In Alor, Nnewi and Obosi, the preparation was poor. Voting did not take place in many places”, added the senator, who accused INEC of partiality and incompetence.
His Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA) counterpart, Chief Godwin Ezeemo, frowned at the late arrival of materials in some parts of the state. He said the materials did not get to Umuchu, Aguta Council, in time, although many people had been accredited around 11 am. Also, Chief Ifeanyi Ubah of Labour Party (LP) warned that the people may lose faith in the commission, judging by the flawed exercise.
To for Tony Nwoye, the PDP candidate, it was a different ball game. He had complained to reporters in the morning about the late arrival of materials, but when the register was opened, he got the shock of his life. His name was not found. Nwoye alleged that the delay was a ploy by the opposition to disenfranchise voters in his area.
“My finding is that it is a desperate move by my opposition to win the election. I gathered that materials arrived other polling booths as early as 6.30 a.m., but as you can see, no material has arrived my polling booth for inexplicable reasons. I have called the federal commissioner in charge of the Southeast to make my complaints known to him and he expressed shock. For materials that moved since last night to local government areas not to have reached polling booths by this time, is an attempt to provoke the youth and disenfranchise them,” he said.
However, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Chief Willie Obiano, was not perturbed. He gave INEC a pass mark, saying :”So far, INEC is doing well.”
Midway into the exercise, the APC leadershipit would not accept the results of the election, unless there is voting in all local governments areas, especially in Idemili North, Idemili South and Akwa South. Its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Layiwola Mohammed, chided INEC for “apparently-contrived logistics nightmare”. The party called for the removal of the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Anambra, Prof. Chukwuemeka Onukogu.
In Idemili Local Government, there are 180,000 voters. But the materials meant for the area was allegedly hijacked by unidentified persons. Mohammed complained that the materials meant for the strongholds of APGA and PDP were protected. The APC also expressed dismay at the fact that the voter registers for Idemili South, where Ngige comes from, did not contain the names of voters in the local government, despite the assurances of the INEC Chairman.
‘’Before the election, political parties were given voter’s registers that largely contained the names of most voters. However, about four days to the election, Jega said at an interactive stakeholder’s forum that there were problems with the registers, which would be rectified before the election. However, when the supposedly-corrected registers were brought back, most of the authentic names in them have disappeared without explanation,’’ Mohammed fumed.
In the opinion of the APC lead-
ers, Onukogu was very partial
and incompetent. The commission under him also exhibited unprofessional conduct in the 2011 elections, the party said.
‘’In 2011, when Prof. Onukogu conducted the general elections in the state, he was very partial. During the House of Assembly polls in Onitsha South 11 and Idemili South 11, he declared the results of both inconclusive, only for him to announce the results at 12 midnight.
“After we challenged the results in court and a rerun was ordered, we won both constituencies. We subsequently petitioned INEC and the Commission assured us that the same person will not be allowed to conduct subsequent election. Alas, he was left in place to do another damage to INEC as an institution through his glaring incompetence and partiality, which have seriously affected the credibility of this governorship election,’’ Mohammed added.
Former Minister of Information Prof. Dora Akunyili said in Agulu, where she was accredited that there were few INEC officials. She called for the review of the electoral timeframe. “I have been accredited and I am waiting for the 12.30pm time to be counted and vote. But I must say that the timeframe is not very helpful as many voters may not be able to make it back by then. We must not disenfranchise anybody. If you look at this place now, this is past 12 noon and only one INEC official is here. Look at the long queue. When will they all be accredited and when will they vote?” she queried.
At about 4.30 p.m, there were signs that the poll had failed. The INEC Office, Awka, which was the final collation centre, was devoid of activities. No result had come from any local government. Instead, stakeholders inundated the office with various complaints. Some people stormed the office, complaining that election had not started in three polling centres in Ogidi – Ilo Ngwodo Ward 1, Central School Akpakaogwe, and Eke Ngweje Ward 1. Also, prospective voters allegedly attacked INEC Electoral Officers for failing to present the result sheet to them before beginning accreditation. At Afor Agulu Square, Awka South, reputed to be the largest ward in Anambra, the exercise became rowdy during the counting of votes. Voters were anxious and eager to know the result.
At Central School 1, Akpakaogwe, in Ogidi, Idemili North, an election officer said she was beaten up by the youths at the polling station. “They requested for the result sheet and I told them we don’t have it yet. They insisted they must see it and began to hit me. They were dragging me, took the ballot paper, and squeezed the register,” said the NYSC member.
In some areas, policemen pre-
tended as if nothing was happen-
ing when some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains stormed polling units to give money to prospective voters in Akaboukwu Ward 2, Uruagu Nnewi, and Edoji, Uruagu Nnewi.
In the afternoon, there was uproar in Awka among the election observers. Many of them had been rounded up by the poloce and detained. But four hours later, INEC’s Director of Monitoring, Bala Ibrahim Shittu, said that they had been released.
A voter, Chigbundu Ositadinma, complained that INEC did not prepare for the challenge beyond the rhetoric on the pages of news papers. “We registered to vote and now, we cannot vote. Why is our name not on the register? This is not an election,” he said.
According to observers, less than 50 per cent of the registered voters voted. Asked if they tried to confirm their names when the register was published before the election, some of the affected would-be voters said they did not know when the list was published. Others said that the list was not pasted.
It was rowdy across the state. Voices were raised. “They won’t tell us anything. We are stranded here,” said another would-be voter Felix Udoji. “I have been here since 9 a.m,” he said. The time was about 2 p.m.
“We were told that INEC officials were are bringing another list containing more names, and that our names would be there, but up till now nothing has happened.
“People have even started going home due to tiredness,” Udigi added.
As at 1.30pm when this reporter left the polling unit, voting was yet to begin.
There were similar tales in several other poling units. A voter, Uchenna Nwaneri, told our reporter: “In my unit, only names from ‘A’ to ‘N’ were found in the list. But ‘O’ to ‘Z’ didn’t come in the register. We made enquiries and complained, and there was no response.
“It’s really quite worrisome because they have disenfranchised many people actually. It looks like something that is intentional, because we used the same register to vote in the 2011 presidential election in the same polling booth.
“The names were placed before the election, but have all been torn ou,” Nwaneri said.
There were early signs that there would be hitches. Accreditation did not begin at various polling units on time because voting materials arrived late. The exercise, which ought to begin by 8am, did not begin in several places as at 11am.
At a voting unit in Ogbankwa, Awka South Local Government Area, accreditation began at about 10.am. There was confusion over a voting centre in Nziko in Oyi Local Government Area as two major polling units were urgently relocated for security reasons.
Voters were said to have come out for accreditation but did not meet any official in the units said to be located in a forest. It was learnt that the centre was eventually moved near a school.
Presiding Officers were forced to extend the time allotted for accreditation of voters.
In most voting units in Aguata Local Government, voters complained of similar challenges. In a voting centre at the Civic Centre in Umuchu Ward 1, accreditation was said to have started a few minutes to 11am. Ezeemo said the presiding officer in Civic Centre Unit 001 asked him to return by 2.30pm when voting will start.
“INEC officials told me voting will start by 2.30pm because materials arrived late. The Presiding Officer said there were delays. Reports I have received from other places also show that materials arrived late in various centres,” he said.
In Ihiala Local Government Area, electoral officers encountered logistics problems caused by the reposting of some ad-hoc staff, caused by the withdrawal of some of the staff over allowance issues.
The candidate of the PDP, Mr. Tony Nwoye, could not vote at the Offia Nta Nsugbe Ward 1 unit 008 because his name was not 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, yet his name was found. Out of the 500 people who registered in the unit, only 50 found theirs.
Electoral materials were not enough in most of the polling units in the stronghold of the All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Ngige.
Where there were materials, they were incomplete. In some places, result sheets were not included among materials distributed.
Ngige lamented that the attempt was aimed at reducing the votes in his stronghold, and said he felt betrayed by INEC, which had promised during the stakeholders meeting to deliver a credible election.
There were no result sheets
in most of the polling units
visited in Alor and Uke in Idemili South.
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members who were used as presiding officers in Idemili North LGA, which is Ngige’s strong base, were said to have embarked on strike in the early hours of the day because they allegedly were not paid their allowances.
At Igbo-Ukwu in Aguata Local Government Area, a former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwumeka Ezeife, prayed that future elections in the state would be better.
“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.
Following the hiccups, INEC rescheduled election in Obosi, Idemili North Local Government area. But few people turned out to vote yesterday. It was unlike Saturday when polling units were filled with people. Several units had few people voting.
Ngige was at the INEC headquarters yesterday to submit a protest letter, in which the APC demanded fresh elections in four local government areas and rejected the rescheduled election.
He told reporters, who kept vigil at the INEC office for early collated results to come in, that there was a calculated attempt to alter the people’s will.
“As a political party and as a candidate, the idea of conducting election on a Sunday is against the principles and beliefs of members of our party. Sunday is a holy day, a day of rest for Christians, and we don’t want to impinge on the sensibilities of our supporters.
“A lot of them called us since that announcement was made on radio, so we came to intimate the commission that even members of the clergy who would have even assisted us with announcing the rescheduling have stoutly refused to do so, and told us that that their masses and church services start from 6-7 a.m and that the last ones end about 2-2.30 p.m. That’s about the time you do accreditation and do the voting,” Ngige said.
INEC Chairman Prof Attahiru Jega, speaking on AIT, said the Electoral Act did not say that election cannot hold on a Sunday.
“The law did not stop the holding of an election on any particular day. Where the exigencies require, and when you get the consent of the community, then it can be done,” Jega said.
The INEC Chairman attributed the challenges encountered in Idemili to an act of sabotage by its official, who he said had been handed over to the police. He said further investigation would be conducted.
On the missing names in the registers, Jega said they were those who did not update their data during the last verification exercise.
The missing names were those on ‘addendum lists’ which the commission is trying to do away with, Jega said.
