Senate: INEC Free to Transmit Anambra Governorship Election Results Electronically

•Despite IPOB threat, poll will hold, says commissioner

Deji Elumoye in Abuja, Emma Okonji and Nosa Alekhuogie

The Senate has told the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that it is at liberty to transmit electronically the results of the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State. Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya, said yesterday in Abuja that the electoral umpire was free to transmit the governorship election results electronically if it so desired.

This is just as Anambra State Government through its Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr. Don Adinuba, has said the governorship election slated for November 6 in Anambra State would hold, despite the sit-at-home order given by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Adinuba who spoke yesterday on ‘The Morning Show’ on ARISE NEWS Channel, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers, said the people of Anambra State and members of the various political parties in the state were very confident that the election would hold, despite threat from IPOB members.

Senator Gaya gave the green light for the electronic transmission of the result when the National Assembly Joint Committee on Electoral Matters and INEC met with stakeholders on the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State.
The senate INEC committee chairman said, “It is left for INEC to decide whether it will transfer the election results in Anambra or not. They have done that in the previous elections in Edo and Ondo states.

“Even before INEC started transferring elections results from polling units, Nigerians have been monitoring results of elections the moment they are being announced at polling stations and by 4pm, even before the final results are announced, many Nigerians would have seen them on the Internet. Nigerians are fully involved in elections.”
The ranking senator said INEC had assured the joint committee that it would go ahead with the Anambra election and declare the winner, despite the prevailing security situation in the state.

He stated, “We expect the people of the state to cooperate fully with the electoral body by being law abiding. The only way to achieve free and fair, credible election in Anambra is for everybody to eschew violence.”
Speaking earlier, iNEC National Chairman, Professor Yakubu Mahmood, said the agency had recovered from the series of attacks by yet to be identified persons in Anambra State.

Mahmood said, “We have recovered from the series of attacks on our facilities and I am happy to say that we have deployed all the non-sensitive materials to all the local government areas. We have trained the requisite number of adhoc staff for the election and we have also mobilised members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers for efficient distribution of materials on Election Day. As far as INEC is concerned, we are good to go on November 6, 2021.”

On the level of distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in Anambra State, he said, “We have a little over 81,000 valid registrants. After the suspension of the CVR (Continuous Voter Registration) in Anambra State, that includes a little over 5,000 that applied for replacement of cards and intra-state and inter-state transfers.
“As we speak, we are batching the cards. They will leave first thing tomorrow morning for Awka and all the new registrants will get their cards before the elections.

“This time around, with the help of technology, we were able to harvest the telephone numbers and email addresses of the registrants. So we will contact each and every one of them and tell them where to pick their cards. But the cards will be delivered to Awka tomorrow (Thursday).”

Despite IPOB Threat, Anambra Election Will Hold, Says Commissioner
Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr. Don Adinuba, has said the governorship election slated for November 6 in Anambra State would hold, despite the sit-at-home order given by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Adinuba who spoke yesterday on ‘The Morning Show’ on ARISE NEWS Channel, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers, said the people of Anambra State and members of the various political parties in the state were very confident that the election would hold, despite threat from IPOB members.

Adinuba who expressed confidence that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), whose gubernatorial candidate is Prof. Chukwuka Soludo, would win the election, called on the people of the state to come out in their numbers to vote for the candidate of their choice.

“Soludo is currently campaigning in all the 21 Local Government Areas of the state and the people have assured him of their votes. Despite the attack on his person by political thugs, Soludo is not deterred, as he still goes about campaigning with renewed strength,” Adinuba said.

Addressing the tensed situation in the state, which was created by the sit-at-home order by IPOB, Adinuba who dismissed the threat order, said IPOB issued the same threat order four years ago against conducting the election that year, but later rescinded its threat order after some prominent people from the South-east intervened.
He said he was confident that the same members of IPOB would also change their minds, since high level negotiations had begun to dissuade IPOB members of their current position.

“As I speak, there are people who have started negotiating with IPOB members and the former Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezife, is one of them who is leading the negotiation. But beyond the political approach, the Inspector General of Police (IG), is sending 34,000 policemen, led by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), who is an indigene of Anambra State.
“Other security personnel will be joining the 34,000 policemen to ensure that the election is conducted in a peaceful manner, without fear of intimidation from any group. So the Anambra political environment will be overwhelming by the presence of policemen during the election, and that will go a long way to inspire confidence in the people to come out and vote on the day of election,” Adinuba said.

He expressed confidence that APGA members, including the 34 Soludo Solidarity Groups, would come out in their numbers to vote for Soludo on the day of the election.
“If members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), decided not to turn out for the election, people will not be surprised because they have technically backed out of the election for fear of defeat because they have been very timid and they have not been campaigning,” Adinuba further said.

Reacting to the recent defection of party members from APGA to other political parties in Anambra State, Adinuba said the defection would not in anyway affect the unity and strength of APGA in Anambra State. He said what happened in Zamfara and Rivers states, where APC did not present their candidates for election, would happen again in the Anambra gubernatorial election, thus raising hope that APGA will have a wide margin win over other political parties in the November gubernatorial election in Anambra State.