Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Anambra south senatorial district, Prof. Nkwachukwu Orji, has said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shelved declaration of results for the district and that of Idemili North and South Federal constituency due to attack by hoodlums.
This was as the incumbent senator representing Anambra central and candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh, said the reason the outcome of the election had not been declared was that INEC lost control of the exercise.
Speaking on non-declaration of the result, the REC said INEC had been in a dilemma, following the violence that erupted in Obosi area of the state during the period of collation of results.
He said: “The hoodlums arrived at the collation centre, seized a lot of our materials, destroyed them, took away our card readers and even caused injuries to some of our staff.
“That is why we are unable to complete the result of Anambra central senatorial election and the Idemili North and South Federal Constituency.”
He said INEC had resolved to use the duplicate copies of the result, which it earlier gave out to the police, to complete the collation of the result. We are working on a development, in Obosi; the election there progressed successfully, but, during collation, there was violent disruption. We had to terminate the collation process to assess the situation.
“Only 30 of 65 polling units were collated, but, we are invoking a section of our regulation, which says the collation officers can regenerate result from the duplicate copies given out to party agents and the police.”
Speaking yesterday, however, Umeh described the situation as unfortunate and demanded a repeat of the exercise in places where there were manifest problems, to ensure free and credible poll in the zone.
Umeh, while addressing newsmen at his Aguluizigbo country home, said the fact that election results for Anambra central had not been declared was an indication that something was amiss.
He said: “INEC said accreditation must be done with card readers, but, in majority of the places, card readers did not work, and the electoral umpire resorted to the use of manual voting, which made it to lose control of the exercise.”
“The results being turned out by INEC, in the zone, showed that card readers did not work. In my place, where it worked, the proper thing was done. In Obosi and Abatete, for instance, where violence marred the exercise, INEC was still trying to generate results several days after the election.
“The election was highly manipulated in Anambra central, and that is why INEC is finding it difficult to release the results. In many places where the card reader was not used, hoodlums were brought in buses, and they voted without proper accreditation.
“Because it lost control, INEC resorted to asking agents of political parties to bring duplicate copies, to enable it compute the results, which is not proper. If the commission does not have original result, then, there is nothing to compute.
“INEC left some of its flanks open for manipulations, which was why unregistered people were allowed to vote in some polling units. The INEC guideline specifically said in the event of card reader not working, the election should be shifted.
“Since INEC cannot arrive at anything after three days of the election; the only way to remove the impasse is for the election to be cancelled in the affected places, so that the card reader can be used.”
Umeh said although he believed that elections should not be a do-or-die affair, the right thing must be done to ensure the credibility of the exercise.