What would have been the
most peaceful election in the
history of Anambra State was
yesterday marred by
electoral irregularities as
most of the electorate who
turned out to vote were
disappointed as their names
were not found in the
voters ’ register.
Signs that the Independent
National Electoral Commission
(INEC) did not do its
homework well on the
Anambra election started
showing when the voters
trooped out about 8am to
discover that the electoral
materials have not been
brought to the polling
stations.
Consequently, the election
could not commence in most
of the polling stations in the
state until noon, leading to
voting ending beyond 4pm as
stipulated by INEC in most
places. By INEC ’s regulation,
voting was expected to
begin at 8am and expected
to end at 4pm.
In most of the polling stations
visited by our
correspondents, the local
people who had come out en
masse to vote for their
preferred candidates were
seen wearing long faces as
the voters ’ registers had
only foreign names instead
of theirs.
Also, some of the major
candidates in the election
who spoke to reporters
expressed dismay, saying
INEC had messed up the
Anambra election.
For the enthusiastic voters,
their spirit melted as they
entered into a very long
wait, which ended in
disappointment in most
places.
All the wards visited in
Anaocha, Njikoka, Idemili
North and South, Nnewi
North and South, the people
complained about the INEC
register, saying that they do
not have the names of the
local people, but alien names,
some of them Hausa and
Yoruba.
At 9:45a.m in Agulu Ward 3,
Community Primary School,
voters were seen waiting for
the INEC officials and
materials just like in Agulu
Ward 2, Amatutu Village,
which is about two poles
away from Governor Peter
Obi ’s home.
At Adazi-Nnukwu Ward 2,
the voters complained that
they had been around since
8am, but were yet to vote at
10:05am as the materials
were still being distributed to
the polling units.
At the Anaocha local
government headquarters,
policemen that were
supposed to guard the
polling units were still at the
council at 10:30am trying to
board their vehicles.
When Sunday Sun got to Alor
Community in Idemili South,
the home of the Action
Congress (AC) candidate, Dr
Chris Ngige, there was no
sign of materials and officials
in any of the wards at
10:45am.
The people who turned out in
their large numbers vowed
to remain there until they
cast their votes.
At 11.25am at Uga Boys
Secondary School, Uga Ward
2, the home of Labour Party
candidate, Dr Andy Uba, the
voters patiently waited but
complained bitterly about
non-arrival of materials and
INEC officials, as only three
youth corps members were
there on the side of the
officials.
One of the angry voters
asked Sunday Sun whether
the time for the election had
been changed, but vowed: “If
they like, let them come by
midnight, we will wait for them
here. ”
There was a large and
overwhelming number of
voters at St. Paul ’s Catholic
Church, Uga, about 11:40am,
but they also complained of
absence of the INEC officials
and materials.
In Amichi Ward 3, where
voting started by 12 noon,
only one out of the three
polling units in Iseke Ndida
Hall had the names of
registered voters there.
Over 100 persons at the
scene and who were
supposed to vote at Units
008 and 009 could not find
their names in the register.
They complained that the
names in the register were
not those of the community
people. One of them said:
“ The register they brought
bears our village name and
code, but the names in it are
not that of our people. ”
At Dimala Village Hall,
Osumenyi Ward 2, Unit 012,
one of the contenders and
standard-bearer of Hope
Democratic Party (HDP),
Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu,
voted with his wife at 1.20pm.
In the same Osumenyi, a
former commissioner in
Governor Obi ’s government
was said to have been
manhandled by suspected
thugs of one of the
candidates in the election
with stronghold in the area.
The standard bearer of the
Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), Prof. Chukwuma
Soludo, voted about 1pm at
Amaorji Primary School,
Isuofia, and was the third
person to vote as voting
started in his area at
12.50pm.
But, Soludo ’s Director, Media
and Publicity, Mr. Christian
Udechukwu, complained of
late arrival of materials and
the people not finding their
names in the register.
However, the Resident
Electoral Commissioner (REC),
Mr Josiah Uwazuronye, who
had earlier told newsmen
that INEC was fully prepared,
witnessed the confusion at
the Awka South INEC
secretariat where he spent
close to two hours before
returning to his office around
1:15pm.
INEC Director of Public
Affairs, Mr Emmanuel
Umenger, said the delay was
caused by the need to
maintain law and order.
He said policemen on duty
were barred at Nnewi while
in some places INEC officials
were not allowed to move.
“ It was not a logistics
problem as such; it was
security problem. Police could
not allow the unveiling of the
materials because of the
situation.
“ I have not received any
report that things went awry
except in the places I told
you, ” he said.
On the alleged
disenfranchisement of many
voters, he absolved INEC
from it, saying, “the
commission stated clearly
during the stakeholders ’
meeting that there were
attempts by political actors to
block the voters register
with fictitious names.
“ People are expected to
vote where they registered.
If they have a card that
doesn ’t bear the code of
their station, they have no
business being there. ”
At the ward 2 in Awka South,
there were supposed to be
three polling units, 04, 05
and 09, but at the time of the
visit by newsmen, it was only
polling unit 04 that voting
was taking place.
A retired Chief Consultant
Surgeon, Dr Chinwuba, who
spoke to newsmen, accused
some people of deliberately
trying to deny the people
their right to vote.
Information and
Communication Minister, Prof.
Dora Akunyili, who spoke to
newsmen at the INEC office in
Awka, said the election went
on smoothly, but she
confirmed that there were
hiccups here and there.
Akunyili, who arrived at the
INEC office, accompanied by
her husband about 3.45p.m,
however, confirmed that
there were some areas
where voting was yet to take
place at the time of her visit.
‘ Foreign names’ in voters
register
Across the state, there were
reports of irregularities,
which have put a question
mark on whoever is
eventually declared winner.
In Nnewi North and Nnewi
South, most of the names in
the voters register were
foreign to the area. At most
poling units, there were
willing voters but their
names were not in the
register although the number
on their cards tallied with
that in the register.
The most glaring was at
Ebenasa ward 3 in Amichi,
Nnewi South Council, where
no indigene of the community
was among the 10,000 names
in the voters register. The
first five pages had “Ama”
as the surname. The
community does not answer
Ama.
Another four pages in the
register have names that
started with “Mpama,” which
means idiot in the local
parlance. This was replicated
in some other wards in
Amichi.
former chairman of the Police
Service Commission, Chief
Simeon Okeke, who could not
find his name in the register,
expressed shock and said if
the situation was the same
across the state, the election
needed to be cancelled.
At the ward of the running
mate of the Congress for
Democratic Change (CDC),
John Chukwu Nwosu, the
voters vowed not to leave
the polling booth until they
have exercised their
franchise.
Reacting to the irregularities,
Chief Press Secretary to
Governor Peter Obi, Mike
Udah, said INEC should show
evidence of preparation for
the election.
He lamented that voters
trooped out to vote but could
not find their names in the
register, adding that only
Hausa, Yoruba and other
funny names were found in
the registers.
He said many voters were
disenfranchised.
Thuggery
A former Supervisory
Councilor and chairmanship
aspirant for Nnewi South,
Emma Mbonu, was attacked
at Osumeyi and his Nissan
Xtera jeep with registration
number, EQ 712 LSR,
damaged. It was parked at
the Amichi police station after
the attack.
Ballot thumb-printing
allegation
Early in the morning, it was
rumoured that some boys
were in the home of a
member representing a
constituency in Nnewi South
in the state House of
Assembly thumb-printing
ballot papers.
It was gathered that when
the police arrived, the boys
fled the house.
When Sunday Sun spoke to
the legislator at Ebenasa
Ward 3, he was evasive and
responded: “You can see me
in handcuffs and in police
cell. ”
Although he is a PDP member,
he was said to be working
for the Labour Party
candidate.
There was also an allegation
that the police caught one
person with cartons of
voting materials as he came
out from the INEC office last
night.
But the leader of the police
team there, CSP Dennis
Anyai, dismissed the
allegation, saying he was in
the office throughout the day
and nothing like that
happened.
The Electoral Officer in
charge of Nnewi North,
Asade Ganiyu, also dismissed
the story as unfounded.
According to him, anyone who
tried that in the presence of
combat-ready policemen and
soldiers was on a suicide
mission.
Blank result sheets
There were also 14 blank
result sheets not sent to
polling units. According to
Ganiyu, the 14 result sheets
were for the wards with zero
registration, that no one was
registered in those wards.
Most of the polling units did
not get voting materials until
about 11am. But by 8.55am,
the last BATCH of voting
materials had left the INEC
office in Nnewi North for
various polling centres.
When Sunday Sun visited the
Eme Court residence of the
Anambra Deputy Governor,
Virgy Etiaba, by 10.30am,
she was said to be sleeping
and was to vote later.
Also by 11am, the polling unit
at Anglican Church where the
Ikemba Nnewi, Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu Ojukwu, was to
vote was yet to receive
voting materials.
The Anglican Bishop of Nnewi
Diocese, G. N. Okpala, who
came to vote about 11.30am
in the same ward with
Ojukwu, was disappointed
that the voting materials
were yet to arrive. He turned
back.
Topic: CONFUSION IN ANAMBRA (Read 1983 times)
