The fate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate in the November 16, governorship election in Anambra State, Mr. Willie Obiano, may be hanging in the balance for alleged double registration, first in Lagos where he was domiciled and later his Aguleri home in Anambra East council area to enable him vote during the election. An online publication had recently alleged, following a discovery a few days ago that “Willie Obiano procured a voter’s card in Lagos sometime ago and also went ahead to procure another voter’s card at his home town, Aguleri to enable him vote in Anambra State in the forthcoming election in the state thereby registering twice with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). “If investigated, Willie Obiano, would be arrested for electoral fraud and disqualified from contesting the November 16, governorship election in Anambra state,” the online publication had said. The Anambra State Resident Electoral commissioner (REC), Professor Chukwuemeka Onukogu, had during a media briefing in Awka to herald the INEC voter revalidation exercise in the state warned that double registration attracted a severe penalty of N100,000 or one year imprisonment or both as stipulated by the Electoral Act 2010 as amended since the person, if caught would be deemed to be in possession of more than one valid voter’s card for electoral fraud.
He explained that the procedure was that an indigene of the state resident in say Umuahia in Abia State, who registered there in the previous exercise and for one reason or the other relocated to the state should also transfer his or her INEC voter’s registration to Anambra through his office at the INEC to enable such a person to vote. He described the act of double registration as fraudulent, adding that the INEC had fished out about 93,000 double registrants in the state in the previous exercise and that they would be prosecuted. The development became a major issue in Anambra State yesterday with yet another allegation that the Anambra State government and some APGA chieftains were making frantic moves to cover the alleged fraud by pressurising the state REC to delete the Lagos voter’s card from INEC’s server. But the REC was said to be hesitant, while Head of the ICT department of INEC in the state is allegedly being contacted by the same state government officials to delete Obiano’s name from the Aguleri register. It was also gathered that if the allegations were proven, Obiano’s runner-up in the APGA primaries, Hon. Uche Ekwunife, may replace Obiano. The state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Onukogu when contacted for his reaction yesterday on the online publication, said inasmuch as it is an offence to register twice, the whole thing remains a “rumour”. Anambra State APGA chairman, Chief Mike Kwentoh, however said the allegation of double registration was not true, adding that what Obiano did was to transfer his registration from Lagos to Anambra States.

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