All is now set for supplementary election of Anambra State governorship today in Ihiala Local Government Area.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not hold any election in the area last Saturday because it failed to deploy officials there because of fear of insecurity.
As a result, the commission deliberated with security operatives Sunday night and came up with the decision of going ahead with the election today.
The Police said yesterday that all necessary security arrangements have been made to ensure that today’s supplementary election holds without any hitch.
The Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr. Echeng Echeng, said this yesterday while speaking on a live television programme monitored by The Nation.
On the level of preparation for the election today, Echeng said the police have beefed up security in Ihiala and were fully ready. He urged the electorates to go out to exercise their franchise, saying more security personnel had been mobilised and deployed.
The Returning Officer for the governorship election and Vice Chancellor, University of Calabar, Prof. Florence Obi, had announced the supplementary election while as well suspending collation of further results in the governorship election.
Obi said it is important to complete the election in Ihiala Local Government Area as provided by the constitution for the winner of the governorship election to be declared.
The local government area has a total of 148,000 registered voters for the All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA candidate, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo; the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Andy Uba and Mr. Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to vie for.
Soludo was declared winner in 18 local government areas from the 21 councils already released by INEC. Ozigbo and Ifeanyi Ubah of YPP won one council each.
The supplementary election would allow the 18 governorship candidates to participate.
The commission yesterday made a little adjustment to the time of the election, which starts at 10a.m. instead of 8.30a.m. The election will end at 4p.m. instead of 2.30p.m.
This was announced yesterday by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye.
“We urge political parties, voters, election duty officials, election observers, the media and the general public to note this slight modification. We also appeal to citizens to conduct themselves in an orderly manner to ensure that the election is brought to a peaceful conclusion,” Okoye said.
Executive Director, Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) Ms Faith Nwadishi yesterday called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to improve on the performance of the Bimodal Voters Authentication System (BVAS) in subsequent elections in the country.
The call is against the backdrop of Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra, where the group, an election observer entity, observed that the system malfunctioned at some of the polling centres.
Nwadishi, who made the call in a statement in Abuja yesterday, urged the commission to note the several reasons why the BVAS malfunctioned and take steps to improve its performance in subsequent elections.
Also, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room Observers urged the INEC to review the issues surrounding the usage of the BVAs for future elections.
Mrs. Ene Obi, the convener of the group, told reporters in Awka yesterday that the call follows several incidents when the BVAs malfunctioned, failing to accredit voters in some polling units. – The Nation.
