The Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] will on Saturday, November 18 conduct the Anambra State governorship election amidst threats by the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and corresponding assurances by various security agencies of safety of prospective voters.
INEC said 2, 158, 171 million registered voters are eligible to vote in the election, one of the biggest ever conducted by the Commission, according to its Chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu. Already, 37 political parties have fielded candidates for the election. Yakubu said “We are combining the governorship election with Idemili North state constituency election. There will be two ballot boxes and voters will receive two ballot papers. All the other arrangements, logistics, staff training, and security are in place. We are killing two birds with one stone.” INEC said it had to procure bigger ballot boxes and longer ballot papers, enough to contain 37 parties and their logos. Here in lies the necessity of increased voter education so that the electorate would not get confused or thumb print severally or even fold the paper with wet ink that would render the ballot paper invalid.
Even while INEC has gone far with its preparations, some misguided miscreants riding under the banner of IPOB are singing war songs and threatening to disrupt the election. Few days to the governorship election, IPOB renewed its threat to voters that they risk death if they go out to vote. Members of the illegal group reportedly marched around some streets of Onitsha, vowing a lockdown on the day of the election. IPOB
Members also took to the social media threatening voters with messages such as ‘We are not running around for the zoo’ and ‘We are in Onitsha to tell the Federal Government to produce Kanu.’
Kanu, the so called IPOB leader has since fled following the Nigerian Army’s Operation Python Dance II in the region but some of his misguided foot-soldiers are still soldiering on.
Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi however said IPOB’s threats does not hold water because the law is clear on situations that could warrant the postponement of an election. “INEC is going ahead with the Anambra governorship election. Once a date has been fixed for an election, the law is very clear on the conditions for shifting the date. So, INEC cannot just shift the date unless the conditions stipulated in the law play out.”
Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Garba Umar also said they are fully ready for the election. He said 28,000 policemen, 400 patrol vehicles and 100 boats would be deployed to safeguard the lives of voters and citizens. He also said all the political parties and their standard bearers have signed an MOU to guarantee a hitch-free poll. Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has also deployed 11, 000 personnel in Anambra State. Its state Commandant John Ahwen said the corps would also deploy 30 dogs, four drones, ambulances, a medical team as well as 115 vehicles, 15 of them to the riverine areas.
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) also called on the electorate to disregard IPOB’s threats and turn out en masse to elect their governor. NOA’s Director General Dr. Garba Abari described the renewed threat as an attempt by miscreants to stampede the will of the people using “baseless intimidation in pursuit of their untoward ends.” Similarly, various groups, statesmen and the media have called for peaceful election in Anambra and the urgent need for IPOB followers to sheath their swords and embrace peace.
We lend our voice to these calls by security agencies and well meaning statesmen for a peaceful, orderly and fair conduct of the Anambra election. The truth is that since 1999, elections in Anambra State have been unusually rancorous and bitter. It is time to break this jinx and ensure a peaceful and orderly continuation or transition of power in the state.
