Preliminary complains of various governorship candidates in today’s election in Anambra State suggest that a lot of litigations are going to follow the outcome of this poll in the weeks to come
By RAYMOND MORDI
Allegations of irregularities are trailing today’s governorship election in Anambra State. Virtually all the front-runners in this crucial governorship election to fill the post that would be vacated by incumbent Governor Peter Obi on March 17, 2014, has been complaining of irregularities. As early as 10.50 am, when Godwin Ezeemo, the candidate contesting under the platform of the People’s Progressive Alliance, PPA, did his accreditation, he told journalists at Umuchu Ward 1, in Aguata Local Government Area of the state, that voting had started in Ward 2 within the area. But when asked to elaborate, he said, “I will get more information on that and get back to you.”
Chris Ngige, the standard bearer of the All Progressive Congress, APC, was more strident in his complain of irregularities. He told a group of journalists in his Alor, Idemili South Local Government Area homestead at about midday that nothing has changed as far as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is concerned. He said in spite of all the assurances given by the body at the recent stakeholders’ forum that everything was in place for a hitch-free election, that INEC continues the display the same kind of irregularities that have characterized previous elections in the country since 1999. His words: “I feel betrayed, I feel sorry for this country. You were all there with us at the stakeholders’ workshop, when INEC gave assurances that everything was in place for a hitch-free election. But nothing has changed; INEC has not changed. Today, in the whole of Idemili North, with 180,000 registered voters, as well as Nkpor, Ogidi, Obosi, Umuoji, Orauku, Abatete, no accreditation have taken place by 12.15 pm, because materials are not available.”
He said INEC was giving conflicting reasons for the anomaly. His words: “They say that INEC ad hoc staff has not been paid and that they are on strike. Yet, they were announcing 48 hours before the election that they were ready for this governorship contest. How can you be ready when you have not paid your ad hoc staff? What is very clear is that this strike by National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, ad hoc staff were targeted at Idemili North and South, and Awka South, as well as portions of Awka North, which are areas I have my support base.”
The implication, he added, “is that perhaps they want the voting to take place later, so that they can falsify the result or deprive many voters the opportunity of voting.” Secondly, he said the current voters’ register in Idemili South, his local government, does not tally with the one that was released earlier, and that there appears to be a deliberate attempt on the part of INEC to disenfranchise voters in areas which from past elections have been backing his party.
Similarly, he lamented what he described as a deliberate detention of Nasir el-Rufai, APC chieftain within Finotel Hotel, Awka today. El-Rufai, a quantity surveyor-turned communication expert, according to Ngige, was supposed to be one of those to man his (Ngige’s) Situation Room. “I don’t know why they are harassing him. I was surprised to hear that they have restricted his movement,” he said in the brief interview he granted a group of journalists, including our correspondent, at his Alor Ward 1 polling unit. Nevertheless, he said he was at el-Rufai’s hotel yesterday night, before the restriction of movement came into effect, and was surprised to find that the quantity surveyor-turned communication expert was being monitored by operatives of the State Security Service, SSS. “They even followed him to the cafeteria where he went to eat. They said they were there to protect him. He has been restricted not only to his hotel, but also to his room. It is an unnecessary show of power,” he added.
At Nsugbe, Anambra East Local Government Area, the homestead of Tony Nwoye, the flag bearer of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in this governorship election, the feeling of voters in several polling units there was one of disappointment. Dozens of registered who could not vote because their names were missing from the voters’ list were loitering around the polling centres, complaining to anyone who cared to listen that they were stopped from voting. Nwoye could not vote, because his name was also missing from the list, even though when he contested for a House of Representatives’ seat in 2011, his name was in the list in the same polling unit. His parents’ names, as well as that of his wife, were also missing from the list. He said his wife, who registered in Obosi, her hometown, voted during the 2011 general elections from the same polling unit where her name is missing today. Nwoye complained that Attahiru Jega, INEC chairman, was inaccessible.
Perhaps, the only candidate who did not complain is Willie Obiano, the candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA. Obiano was said to have arrived his Aguleri Ward 1 polling unit for accreditation by 9.45am. Though he could find his name there, but he was able to find it in the next polling unit. After voting subsequently, the APGA candidate returned home and shut his gate, saying he was not ready to entertain journalists. When the magazine called at his residence with a group of journalists at 1.30 pm, his aides said he was sleeping.
The election was generally peaceful and voters were in the polling units a early as 8.00 am, in places like Abagana, Enugwu Ukwu, both in Njikoka Local; Government Area; Ekwulobia and Umuchu, in Aguata Local Government Area, when our correspondent visited those cities and towns, which are quiet contiguous.