Anambra awaits new leader at the helm

Amid high insecurity and as a result, a deployment of over 40, 000 armed and unarmed security operatives, residents of Anambra State, yesterday, filed out to vote for a new state executive.

Besides serving as one of the bellwethers for the 2023 presidential election, the guber contest was also a reference point in militarisation of the election, even as it was characterised by fear, tension and malfunction of devices.

Except for a few incidents of ballot box snatching, the exercise was largely peaceful, with claims of voter apathy and massive voter turnout coming from different camps.

As was the case during the gubernatorial elections in Edo and Ondo states, there were widespread and brazen cases of vote-buying in some polling centres in the state. Some of the polling units, where this took place include PU 007 Fegge Pay Office 4, Onitsha South, PU 09, Odokwe Village Square II, Nteje 1, Oyi Local Council, and Polling Unit 002, Nteje 3. In these and many other polling units, agents of some of the frontline political parties were busy doling out cash to voters, while others were writing down names of those that had already cast their votes. The amount given out ranged from N500 to N2, 000.

Even though the election was largely peaceful due to the heavy deployment of security personnel, it was, however, marred by the late arrival of electoral materials, and the delayed distribution of the same.

Again, technology almost threw the spanner into INEC’s works with diverse shades of complaints trailing the poor functioning of smartcard readers, and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which made the biometric process stressful and very slow

Soludo, expressed shock over the breakdown of the BVA System at his Polling Unit 002, Ward 13, at Ofiyi Square, Isuofia in Aguata Local Council, said the devices deployed in the state were the reasons that many voters failed to vote in time or voted at all.

Interestingly, despite earlier concerns that violence could mar the exercise in the eighth most populous state in the country, and the second smallest in landmass after Lagos, the election went with little or no violence.

A former governor of the state, Mr. Peter Obi, while commenting on the issue said he knew that the governorship election would be peaceful.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Valentine Ozigbo, who also experienced challenges with the BVAS, also lamented that he used his hotspot to connect the BVAs system before it worked.

While some frontline politicians condemned the hitches, Nkem Okeke, deputy governor of Anambra, who recently decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC) begged to differ, and described the governorship election as the smoothest he has ever seen.

Speaking to journalists after casting his vote, Okeke said the BVAS functioned properly and the biometric process was stress-free.

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in its preliminary statement on the conduct of the poll, noted that despite concerns over the heavy deployment of security agents, very few incidents of intimidation and violence were reported, thereby defying the context of fear and uncertainty that preceded election day.

The group regretted that security agents were frequently absent at the commencement of accreditation in several polling units, which likely heightened uncertainty among voters and officials, just as it said that the persistent incidents of the failure of the BVAS across numerous polling units, impaired the smooth conduct of the elections, and will likely disenfranchise some intended voters.

The lateness of officials in commencing accreditation and polling, CDD said left many voters frustrated, necessitating INEC’s extension of the voting period till 4 pm.

It also noted the incidents of electoral malpractice including vote-buying have been widespread and will likely impact the credibility of results. By way of recommendation, it called on security agencies to continue to respect human rights and standard rules of engagement and to secure voters as well as INEC staff and infrastructure. We also call on civic and pro-democracy groups to remain vigilant, especially during the collation and announcement of voting results.”

Meanwhile, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has commended the patriotism of corps members engaged in the conduct of the guber poll.

The director-general of the scheme, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, made the commendation, yesterday while monitoring the exercise in nine local councils.

He said the corps members had written their names in the annals of history, having contributed towards the entrenchment of a credible electoral process