The All Progressives Congress (APC) has
expressed a serious doubt on the ability of INEC
to organize a free and fair gubernatorial election
in the eastern Nigerian state of Anambra on 16
November, going by recent developments.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its
Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, the party said the top officials whom
INEC plans to send to oversee the election are
card-carrying members of the PDP, which has
compromised their role as unbiased umpires.
It named the Commissioners as Mr. Lawrence
Nwuruku, the National Commissioner of INEC in
charge of the South-East, and Mrs. Gladys
Nwafor, the second INEC Commissioner from the
South-East.
”Mr. Nwuruku was the Chairman of the PDP in
Ebonyi State, while Mrs. Nwafor had worked
closely with First Lady Patience Jonathan as a
grassroots mobilizer. These officials cannot, in all
honesty, be expected to be unbiased, because
they have been compromised by their
antecedents.
”If INEC indeed has any hope of organizing a free,
fair and transparent election in Anambra on Nov.
16th, it must immediately shelve the plan to send
these highly-partisan and heavily-compromised
officials to supervise the election. Any action
short of that will open INEC to accusations of
bias – which is not what any
umpire wants,” APC said.
The party also said some actions taken by INEC
in recent times have called to question its ability
to stay above the fray as far as the Anambra
election is concerned.
”For example, the voters’ register for Anambra in
2011 had 2.1 million names, which came down to
1.8 million after a review. However, despite
continuous registration by INEC, the names came
down to 1.7 million! This kind of chicanery is only
possible under a circumstance in which deliberate
efforts are being made to depopulate the voters in
areas where the opposition has an edge.
”We are therefore left with no choice than to call
on the National Assembly to seek explanations
from INEC on the hanky- panky. This is
necessary to ensure that the election is not
rigged by the same body saddled with ensuring
that it is transparently-organized,” it said.
APC said it is closely monitoring all the processes
leading to the election, since the success of any
poll is not limited to actions taken on the election
day alone, with a view to ensuring that no
candidate is short-changed by the very body that
has the responsibility to ensure a level-playing
field for all.

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