The Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, on Friday
admitted that it did not meet the
expectations of Nigerians in the
conduct of the November 16
governorship election in Anambra
State
, though it did its best to ensure it
was credible.
The Commission also fixed
November 30 for the supplementary
election, saying no convincing reason
had been given for the cancellation of
the poll.
However, three main contenders in
the election, Chris Ngige of the All
Progressives Congress, APC, Tony
Nwoye of the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, and Ifeanyi Ubah of the
Labour Party, LP, hinted on Friday
night in a television interview that
they might boycott the supplementary
election.
The APC in a statement also said it
would boycott the supplementary
election.
The INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega, at
a press conference in Abuja, said
though the Commission was
determined to make the Anambra
governorship election the best so far
conducted in the country and had
prepared for it more than the previous
elections, it regretted that its
operational performance could not
satisfy Nigerians.
“No doubt that INEC’s operational
performance in that election has not
met the expectations of Nigerians. We
regret shattering the expectations of
Nigerians, but we did our best in the
circumstances to have free, fair and
credible election,” Mr. Jega stated.
The INEC chairman said the
Commission met with its senior
management officers who supervised
the election, during which they
reviewed the conduct of the election
and analysed information received
from participants.
According to him, the meeting
examined all the accusations and
allegations that were made and came
to the conclusion that in spite of
minor and unfortunate challenges in
the field, there was no substantial
evidence to support the outright
cancellation of the election as being
demanded by some of the candidates
and parties.
He said the decision of the Returning
Officer in the election of the need to
do a supplementary election was
“correct,” since there was substantial
compliance with the electoral laws,
adding, “Therefore we have decided
that the supplementary election will
hold in Anambra State on Saturday
November 30.”
Mr. Jega regretted logistical
challenges, especially the late arrival
of materials, saying that the
commission did all it could to make
the election the best but “it did not
turn out to be the best INEC has
conducted so far.”
He explained that the Commission
did a thorough estimate of the
number of vehicles needed for the poll
and provided adequately for it.
He denied claims that some voters
were deliberately disenfranchised
during the election, insisting that it
was not enough reason to be used to
cancel the election.
According to him, those who could
not vote might have been involved in
multiple registrations or did not take
advantage of continuing voter
registration to renew their
registration.
“This is regrettable given INEC’s
efforts in cleaning up the register and
make it much more credible,” Mr.
Jega said. “I want to remind us that
before the election, the Commission
met with Chairmen and secretaries of
all registered parties, who came with
their candidates.
“We briefed them adequately on the
register. We told them how the
number of candidates had come
down from about 1.8million to 1.7
million. We briefed them on the
efforts we were making and that in
Anambra election, there will be no
need for addendum register.
“From our assessment on the
allegation of disenfranchisement, we
believe that a substantial
overwhelming majority of them must
have been either people who had
done multiple registrations or did not
take advantage of the continuing
voter registration.”
Mr. Jega said the challenge was for
the political parties making the
allegation to prove that there was
disenfranchisement based on the
voter register, stressing that “the
issue of disenfranchisement cannot
be used to cancel the election or do a
fresh election.”
The INEC chairman said the only
difference between the register release
to the parties 30 days before the
election and the one eventually used,
was age, which “we explained to the
stakeholders and they did not
complain about.”
Mr. Jega insisted that the 183 people
arrested by the Imo Police Command
on their way to Anambra State were
not accredited observers, adding that
they were already being prosecuted.
He said that unlike the previous
election, the process of accreditation
for the Anambra election was
rigorous.
He gave the name of the INEC official
arrested in Idemili North LGA as
Chukwujekwu Okeke, even as he
stated that it was unfair to accuse
INEC of hiding the identity of the
officer. He assured that if the
Commission found any of its staff
culpable in undermining the election,
such staff would not go unpunished.
He urged the political parties and
their candidates to cooperate with the
Commission in order to conclude the
election on Saturday.
“I regret to say that in spite of our
best intentions as human beings to
make the election the best we get
disappointed. As much as Nigerians
were disappointed with the result, we
are also disappointed with the result.
We wanted the election to be the
best.
“We ask all stakeholders to cooperate
with us. We are not making excuses. I
must say that making elections
peaceful and credible is a joint effort
of INEC and stakeholders.”
Mr. Jega confirmed that the
Commission was attending to the
petition by the All Progressives
Congress, APC, which he said was
received on Thursday.
He, however said that the petition
merely repeated all the allegations
already made by its candidate in the
election, Chris Ngige.
“Some of them (allegations) we have
thoroughly investigated,” he added,
pointing out that if the purpose of the
petition was to convince the
Commission to cancel the election, it
would not do so because there was
no strong evidence marshalled by the
party to achieve that.
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