From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The National Rescue Movement (NRM) has accused two staff members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of forgery with regard to the list of candidates for the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State.

While faulting the list of candidates earlier released by INEC for the governorship polls, the party specifically accused the duo of Mrs Arabs Joan and Mrs Nkechi Abu of the Election Primaries Monitoring (EPM) department of INEC of perpetrating the forgery to gain access to the party’s key/code for the purpose of uploading the names of its candidates.

The National Organising Secretary of the party, Amb. Isaac Chigozie Udeh, made the accusation yesterday in Abuja during a press briefing.

According to him, “It is abundantly clear that the purported name inserted against NRM in the Anambra governorship election doesn’t have the approval of the legally recognised NRM National Chairman, Chief Edozie Njoku, nor does it have my endorsement, as the man whose name still adorns the commission’s website. This is the requirement of the law.

“At the moment, the party suspects that Mrs Arabs Joan and Mrs Nkechi Abu may have committed forgery, because that is the only thing that can explain how they got either Chief Edozie Njoku’s signature or mine. Outside the two of us, no other person(s) has the right to sign or authenticate the party’s candidates.”

Udeh lamented the refusal of the commission to recognise the Chief Edozie Njoku-led National Executives of the party that emerged from the emergency convention held on Friday, January 17, 2025, in Abuja, despite subsisting court orders compelling INEC to do so.

“INEC went ahead to reject all the letters we wrote notifying them of our electoral activities in preparation for the Anambra governorship election and the need for them to monitor it as required by the law.

“Brazenly, INEC chose to monitor the illegal governorship primaries organised by Mr Chinedu Obi, the National Welfare Officer of the party.

“I want to note that these events are not accidental. It is not the first time Mrs Arabs Joan and Mrs Nkechi Abu of the EPM department will unilaterally take decisions for the party, for reasons best known to them.

“Unarguably, Mrs Arabs Joan and Mrs Nkechi Abu are in utter violation of section 2.0 (Procedure for the submission of nomination forms by political parties) of the commission’s revered ‘Guidelines for Nomination of Candidates for Elections of 2022’, which was duly signed by the chairman of the commission himself, for easy operations and transparency in nomination of candidates during elections.

“Pathetically, they mislead the commission and grossly violated subsections 2.5(a), (b), and (d), especially where it stated clearly that ‘every political party, intending to sponsor candidates for election in accordance with section 29(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, shall: ‘obtain access codes from the commission and ‘upload covering letter duly signed by the National Chairman and the National Secretary of the party.

“Our lawyers have been contacted to act accordingly in addressing this very disturbing scenario,” the press statement reads.

On Friday, January 17, 2025, Njoku, National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), dumped the party and was elected as the new National Chairman of the NRM in an emergency national congress of the party held in Abuja.

His position was affirmed by a Federal High Court in Abuja, which ordered INEC to recognise the leadership of the NRM that emerged from the party’s emergency national convention.

The emergency convention was held to fill vacant positions in the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) and correct lopsidedness in its composition.

Just as INEC did after the convention was held, the electoral body refused to accept or even appeal the outcome of the court judgement that ordered it to recognise the new leadership of the party.

Justice Obiora Egwatu, in a judgement, faulted the position of INEC and ordered it to recognise and accept the leadership of Edozie Njoku.

The judgement was on a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/45/2025 filed by the NRM, with INEC as sole respondent.

However, in its final list of the governorship candidates and their deputies published on Wednesday, INEC recognised 40-year-old Ndidi Christy Olieh as the NRM’s flag-bearer for the election and Ogbe Ekene Reginald as her deputy.