Awka – The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Tuesday says it does not have any intentions of rescheduling the November 6 Anambra Governorship Election and is proceeding with earlier plans.
INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this at an emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Duties, (ICCES), held at the INEC Conference room, Abuja, today.
Recent security reports from the state, especially of killings and arson had raised concern over whether the elections will still hold as earlier stated.
But the INEC Chairman in his remarks, assured people of Anambra State that the Commission is determined to proceed with the election as scheduled.
According to him, to underscore the determination, the Commission is implementing two more activities on the Timetable for the election in the next few days.
“The register of voters will be presented to political parties in Awka on Thursday 7th October 2021.
“On the same day, the Commission will publish the final list of candidates for the election,” he revealed.
Prof Yakubu however recalled that members of the Committee had at the last meeting, raised concerns over the security situation in the state in particular and the adjoining states in general and how it might affect preparations and possibly the conduct of the election.
He regretted that unfortunately, the situation has deteriorated seriously since then with many innocent lives lost and property destroyed.
“From the reports we have received, the stated goal of many of the attackers is that the Governorship election scheduled for 6th November 2021 must not hold.
“This is worrisome for the Commission.
“We are deeply concerned that specific electoral facilities and materials could once more become targets of attack.
“Recall that in May this year, our State Office at Awka was attacked and all the non-sensitive materials assembled for the election at the time were destroyed.
“In addition, our store, collation centre and the main office building were either totally or substantially damaged.
“The Commission also lost several vehicles to be used for the election,” he noted.
The INEC boss noted with delight, that the Commission has almost fully recovered from that attack.
“The destroyed buildings have either been completely repaired or are nearing completion and we have fully replaced the materials destroyed.
“This rapid recovery has only been possible because this is an off-season election.
“We have sourced some of these materials such as the 326 electric generators and vehicles destroyed in the attack from neighbouring States,” he said.
He however noted that should the Commission again lose vital materials and facilities, the ongoing preparations will be adversely affected.
Yakubu also said the Commission is particularly concerned about the safety of voters and Election Day staff, including security officials who have also become the targets of these attacks.
“The thousands of young Nigerians that we intend to deploy for the election, most of them National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members and university students, need to be reassured of their personal safety.
“At the same time, deployment for the election will involve the movement of huge consignments of sensitive and non-sensitive materials to the 21 Local Government Areas of the State, 326 Wards or Registration Areas and 5,720 Polling Units.
“That means over 6,000 locations to be protected.
“If we add that to about 26,000 officials that will be deployed for the election, we begin to appreciate the magnitude of the challenge of securing the Anambra Governorship election which is only thirty-two (32) days from today,” the INEC boss noted.
The Head of the nation’s electoral body expressed appreciation to the security agencies for their work, which entail not only securing the electoral process, but also enforcing law and order generally.
“This is particularly worrisome because the security agencies have also become prime targets of these mindless attacks,” he said.
The INEC boss concluded thus; “It is in the light of these recent and seemingly escalating threats to the election that the Commission has convened this emergency meeting.
“We will continue to work with the security agencies and in consultation with respected opinion leaders in Anambra State and the National Peace Committee to ensure that these hit-and-run attacks do not derail the electoral process.
“We are confident that at the end of this meeting, we will firm up on specific measures necessary to further guarantee the safety of all persons involved in the election from the voters, election officials, observers, media organisations and the security of election materials.”
