ANAMBRA STATE GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION LIVE UPDATES
Scroll down for the Latest Updates:
First results of the 2013 Anambra Governorship Election just came in:
OGIDI TOWN HALL, IDEMILI NORTH, IN ANAMBRA STATE
Polling Unit 009
Polling Unit 010, voting point 1
- APGA-8
- APC-39
- PDP-14
- PPA-3
- APA-1
- CPP-1
- INVALID is 1
- APC-13
- PDP-4
- APGA-4
- PPA-1
- INVALID 1
Meanwhile, reports reaching us indicate that two people have been shot in Amaenyi, Awka South Local Government Area. They were allegedly attempting to steal ballot boxes. We'll post the updates as soon as we get them.
In a related development, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned they will not accept the results of the ongoing governorship election in Anambra state unless the voting takes place in all local governments. Namely, in the APC's strongholds of Idemili North and South, as well as in Akwa South.
The party, in a statement by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, also accused the INEC for its apparently contrived "logistic nightmare". Thousands of voters were left unable to exercise their franchise, the party said, and demanded the immediate removal of the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Anambra, Prof. Chukwuemeka Onukogu.
APC said it was totally astonished to learn that INEC has confirmed that materials meant for Idemili North Local Government, which has 180,000 voters, have been hijacked, without saying who hijacked the ballot papers and why, and without explaining why the materials meant for APGA and PDP strongholds were not hijacked.
The party said equally astonishing is the fact that the voter's registers for Idemili South, the direct council of the APC candidate, Dr. Chris Ngige, did not contain the names of voters in the local government, despite the assurances by INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega.
Updates 6.19 pm: Awka -The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday rescheduled the Anambra governorship election in 65 polling units in Obosi, Idemili North local government.
The commission said in a statement in Awka that the election would hold in the area on Sunday.
“Due to serious logistics and related challenges, the INEC wishes to inform all political parties, the electorate and the general public that it has rescheduled the election for Obosi Registration Area of Idemili North Local government Area.
“The election in the ward will now take place tomorrow, Sunday, 17th November, 2013 in all the 65 polling units,’’ the statement signed by the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Prof. Chukwuemeka Onukaogu, said.
Onukaogu said the accreditation of voters would commence at 8 a.m. in all the 65 polling units while voting would begin at 12:30 p.m.
He regretted any inconveniences the rescheduling might cause members of the public. (NAN)
Sunday 17th Nov. 2013
Updates 6.30 am: INEC Reschedules Voting In 65 Wards To Sunday
The governorship election held in
Anambra State on Saturday could not be concluded. The Anambra State
Independent Electoral Commission attributed the development to logistics
problems.
Elections in 65 polling units in Idemili
North Local Government Area were cancelled. The Public Relations
Officer of the state electoral commission, Mr. Frank Egbo, who
confirmed the cancellation to SUNDAY PUNCH, said, “The election was cancelled because of logistics issues. The elections will be conducted Sunday (today)in those areas,”
Meanwhile, some of the early results
received are as follows: Atupolum Unit 003, Nimo Ward in Njikoka LGA,
APGA 64; APC 32. Atupolum Unit 004, Nimo Ward, Njikoka Local Government
Area: APGA 84; APC 28. At Arroma Unit 1, Awka South Local Government
Area: APGA 45; APC 25; Arroma Unit 2; APGA 34; APC 33. Permanent Site
Government House, Awka: APGA 50; APC 51. Ogidi Town Hall Idemili North
LGA: APGA 23; APC 58; PDP 22. Polling Unit 010: Ogidi Town Hall: APGA 8;
APC39; PDP 14.
Nimo Ward 3, Njikoka LGA results were as follows: APGA 639; APC 246: PDP 179; LP 26 and PPA 7.
SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that 349
collation and returning officers were brought in from Calabar, but the
Cross River State Resident Electoral Officer, Mr. Mike Igini, who was
one of the 15 RECs invited to coordinate the Anambra election, was
conspicuously absent.
Though the election was peaceful in most of the places covered by SUNDAY PUNCH, there were serious complaints of irregularities in areas where opposition candidates had strong support base.
The candidate of the PDP, Mr. Tony
Nwoye, could not vote at the Offia Nta Nsugbe Ward 1 unit 008 because he
could not find his name on the voter register.
“We couldn’t even find the names of my
father, my mother my uncle and wife on the register. When I first came
at 10am this morning, the INEC officials told me they would trace the
anomaly and rectify it,” he said.
Nwoye returned to the polling unit at
3:30pm to still find out that nothing could be done about his name
missing in the register. He said out of the 500 names on the register,
only fifty people could find their names.
Similarly, Mr. Arthur Eze, a major
financier of the PDP also could not find his name on the voter register
at his polling station at Ukpo Ward, Dunukofia Local Government Area.
Electoral materials were on Saturday in
short supplies in most of the polling units in the stronghold of the
governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress, Dr. Chris Ngige,
and his Labour Party counterpart, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah.
While Ngige had lamented that the
attempt was aimed at reducing the votes in his areas of strength, Ubah
had alleged sabotage by the electoral body.
Ngige said he felt betrayed by INEC,
which had promised during the stakeholders meeting to make materials
available at the voting early enough. He said the intention of INEC was
to prevent his supporters from voting.
SUNDAY PUNCH observed that there were no result sheets in most of the polling units visited in Alor and Uke in Idemili South.
It was also gathered that the National
Youth Service Corps members who were used as presiding officers in
Idemili North LGA, which is a strong base of Ngige, embarked on strike
in the early hours of the day on the pretext that they were not paid
their allowances.
According to Ngige, who spoke shortly
after casting his vote at about 1:30pm, the shortage of electoral
materials was a deliberate attempt to reduce his votes in his
stronghold.
It was gathered that most voters in the
affected places could not find their names in the voter register, even
as it was discovered that the few places were electoral materials
arrived had no result sheets.
Ngige said, “From the reports reaching
me directly, we discovered that there is a deliberate attempt to
disenfranchise Awka South, Idemili North, Idemili South, Dunukofia among
others. Idemili North alone has 180, 000 voters.
“With this, we can say that there is a
deliberate attempt to suppress the wishes of Anambra central people. I
don’t have confidence on the Resident Electoral Commissioner when I
contested in 2010 and I have petitioned INEC that he should not be
allowed to conduct this election. Why is it in my strongholds that the
NYSC ad-hoc staff will go on strike?”
Ngige had drawn the attention of
international observers from the European Union to the shortage of
materials in his strongholds.
He told the observers that the short supply was a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise his supporters in his strongholds.
Also speaking at his Nnewi home, Ubah
lamented that most eligible voters at his Nnewi Ichi ward 2 polling unit
were disenfranchised.
“What I can say is that there are a lot
of inconsistencies, especially on the voter register. For instance, in a
ward that has about 700 voters, you will discover that only seventeen
names will be found in the register. This situation does not speak well
and does signal that we will have a free and fair exercise,” Ubah added.
Similarly, the candidate the Progressive
Peoples Alliance, Chief Godwin Ezeemo regretted the late commencement
of accreditation at his Umuchu Ward 1 polling unit.
He said the late commencement of accreditation may have caused the voter apathy witnessed in the election.
Ezeemo also said that he had lost hope
in the whole process, as he believed the election and officials of the
Independent National Electoral Commission had been compromised.
He said, ‘’For me, I am just going out
there to vote and fulfil all righteousness as I don’t expect anything
good to come out of this.’’
At Igbo-Ukwu in Aguata Local Government
Area, the former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwumeka Ezeife,
described the election as not important to the people of the state.
Ezeife said that those who should have
been the best candidates were schemed out of the process, saying Anambra
indigenes had no option but to accept whoever emerges.
He said, “As it is now, we have no other
option but to accept whosoever God gives to us and keep praying that
all will be well with Anambra State.”
Ezeife, however, stated that future
elections in the state would be totally different from the election.
“With the proposed national dialogue, I am very confident that things
would work for the better and the next election in Anambra State would
be devoid of these irregularities,’ he said.
Updates 7.02 am: So far, APGA In Early Lead In Anambra Governorship Election
There are strong indications that the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), in Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano may emerge winner in Saturday's gubernatorial election in the State, even as candidates of the other major political parties in the race have complained of irregularities during the polls.
According to reports of the election from across the State, the APGA seems to be in the lead especially in the North Senatorial district where the party’s candidate Obiano, and his People’s Democratic Party, PDP, counterpart Comrade Tony Nwoye, hail from.
There are seven local government areas that make up the Anambra North Senatorial zone, and APGA is reportedly leading in each local government area in the zone.
According to reports, APGA is also said to be ahead of other political parties in the Central Senatorial zone, where the incumbent governor Mr. Peter Obi, and the party’s national chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, come from.
The party is said to be leading in Awka North, Awka South, Anaocha and Njikoka local government areas within this senatorial district.
Meanwhile, election did not hold in some parts of Idemili North and South local government areas both of which are within the Central senatorial zone, and the stronghold of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress,(APC), Senator Chris Ngige, following late arrival of electoral materials in most of the polling units in the area.
In the South Senatorial district, report of the gubernatorial election showed that APGA at the time of filing this report had swept majority of the votes in three out of the seven local government areas that make up the State.
Although the gubernatorial election was generally peaceful in most of the polling units visited by LEADERSHIP, there were cases of late commencement of accreditation of voters in some polling units.
Also, the names of some prospective voters were missing in the voters register, which made it impossible for those affected to cast their votes.
For instance, in Uruezide polling unit in Alor ward 1, Idemili South local government which is the polling unit of the APC governorship candidate Senator Ngige, some of the prospective voters could not find their names in the voter register, even though they had voters’ card.
Mrs. Matilda Odinanwa complained that she was not allowed to vote because in her name could not be found on the voters register in her polling unit.
Similarly, the candidate of the PDP Comrade Nwoye, his father Nwabisi and mother Christiana, along with many other prospective voters could not exercise their civic duties at the Ofianta square polling unit Nsugbe Ward 1, in Anambra East local government area in the North senatorial district as their names could not be found in the register of voters for the polling unit.
Meanwhile, Senator Ngige, has called on the INEC to cancel the gubernatorial election, alleging irregularities in the polls, including late arrival of electoral materials which he claimed was deliberately orchestrated by the commission in collaboration with APGA to shortchange him and his party in the election.
He alleged that INEC ad-hoc staff especially the National Youth Service Corps members (NYSC) recruited to participate in the conduct of the election boycotted the exercise because they were not paid their allowances by the electoral commission.
When contacted, the image maker of the INEC in the State, Mr. Frank Egbo, said that election was cancelled in only 67 polling units in Obosi ward 1, Idemili North local government, adding that the election will be repeated on Sunday.
Security was tight in the state during the governorship election as most of the major roads where taken over taken over by the combined team of military and mobile policemen who subjected even electoral officials and journalists to a thorough screening before they were allowed to pass through the various check-points.
The former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who had earlier arrived the State to man Senator Ngige's 'Situation Room' was confined to his hotel in Awka, by the men of the State
Updates 11.13 am: Unofficial Anambra Governorship Poll Results: All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Wins In 16 LGAs
APGA Candidate, Willie Obiano
According to INEC officials, APGA also did well in two other local governments despite the massive irregularities that occurred during the election.
INEC is holding off on full announcement of collated results until elections are concluded in 65 polling units in Obosi, Idemili North local government area by midday today.
The All Progressive Congress (APC) party is expected to come second with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) trailing in the third place while Labour Party (LP) will likely come fourth.
INEC is expected to officially announce the results later today in Awka the state capital where the agency would likely declare APGA candidate, Willie Obiano as “Governor -Elect” of Anambra State.
Source: Saharareporters
Updates 12.24 pm: INEC insists elections will hold only in 65 polling units in Obosi, Ward 7 and Idemili North and not in 4LGAs, saying, “the report of elections in four other LGAs is false.”
A citizen reporter, Emmanuel says that election is ongoing in Idemili-north LGA at the polling unit at the Peoples Club Owerri road. According to him, INEC officials arrived by 10.30am and immediately commenced accreditation.
12:40pm: No fewer than 20 election officials in the Anambra governorship poll were attacked in the early hours of Sunday by armed robbery suspects along the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway.
1:30pm: Just gathered that collation of results is completed in all local government areas except in Idemili north where election is ongoing.
1:35pm: Tony Nwoye, the PDP candidate says Jega is worse than Iwu, adding that INEC scientifically rigged the election.
1:50pm: Meanwhile, INEC chairman, Prof Jega was on AIT and here are excerpts of his interview, as released by INEC:
” The Electoral Officer in charge of Idemili North… messed up distribution of electoral materials .We believe strongly that there was connivance between the EO and unknown agents to subvert the electoral proces and the Electoral Officer & LGA Supervisor in charge of Idemili North have been handed over to the police.
2:20pm: Prof Jega says; “ Results in all LGAs were elections were held has been compiled and sent to INEC Hqtrs; As soon as Idemili North results arrive, state collation will be done and the Returning Officer will announce the results the moment collation is concluded.”
2:45pm: PDP candidate, Tony Nwoye blasts Anambra Resident Electoral Commissioner, alleging that he compromised, just as he calls for the cancellation of election results.
4:00pm: Apathy mars Sunday’s rescheduled election in Idemili north LGA; a polling unit with 1000 registered voters, for example, recorded 100 accredited voters.
4:05pm: counting of votes is on at People’s Club poling unit, Nkpor Old Road.
4:10pm: The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) said that it would not subscribe to total cancellation of the Anambra Governorship Election.
4:30pm: APGA chairman, Victor Umeh is holding a press briefing on the Anambra Governorship election. Details soon.
4:40pm: The All Progressives Congress (APC) has demanded a total cancellation of Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra State based on the massive disenfranchisement of people across the state, caused by the blatant incompetent and/or deliberate sabotage by the electoral commission itself.
In a statement issued in Lagos,Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,the party said the call for total cancellation supersedes its early call for a rerun in four local government areas,and is based on the report it received from its agents as well as from local and foreign observers during the poll.
Updates 7.47 pm: Why We Failed In Anambra – Jega
The
Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru
Jega, has explained why the governorship election was rescheduled in 65
units in Obosi, Idemili North Local Government Area.
He said an electoral officer in charge of the area sabotaged INEC’s preparations by allegedly withholding materials rather than distributing them.
Besides, he said the result sheets, which differ according to units, were jumbled up.
The commission had to take time to rectify the mix up, which resulted in the delays experienced, he said.
Jega said he suspected that the officer was induced by someone who wanted to subvert the process, adding that the alleged culprit has been handed over to the police for prosecution.
The INEC, chairman, who spoke on AIT during a programme on the election, which was monitored in Awka, said every effort would be made to get to the root of the alleged sabotage.
He said: “We made all the preparations and decentralised the process of distribution of materials in order to ensure that they get to the polling units in time for the commencement of the election. That was before Saturday.
“Unfortunately and regrettably – we are humans. We can do all the preparations, but if people are determined to subvert the process, one way or the other they will subvert it.
“So, they used our staff. I think we should be very careful when we have a staff of about 12,000 in INEC, when one person has committed an offence and then you use it to generalise or condemn everybody in INEC.
“Our Electoral Officer in charge of Idemili North Local Government, for inexplicable reasons, messed up the distribution of ballot box papers and result sheets. That was the cause of the delay in the distribution of materials in Idemili.
“All materials were to have been distributed by Friday evening, but for some odd reasons, they made sure that they held onto some of the result sheets, and they also gave wrong result sheets to different polling units.
“For Anambra election, as we did in Edo and Ondo, every polling unit has a unique result sheet. So, you cannot take one result sheet to a different place, because it will not work.
“I assured the stakeholders when we met in Awka that materials must get to the polling units before commencement of election.
“So, when we discovered at about 1am that there was this mix-up, and we tried to reach the Electoral Officer and the supervisor and there was confusion, and we knew something was fishy, we said there would be no deployment until we sorted out the problem.
“As I speak, we have handed over the Electoral Officer to the police because clearly what he did is a sabotage of the electoral process, including the Local Government supervisor.
“It took us until about 1pm to be able to sort out what they had jumbled up. We communicated with the community as at 1pm that we were ready to distribute to all the other wards, and materials were distributed.”
Jega said INEC officials consulted with the community before rescheduling the election, which the All Progressives Congress (APC) rejected.
Updates 9.48 pm: INEC set to declare Obiano winner of Anambra election
Chief Willie Obiano, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in last Saturday’s governorship election is set to be declared winner of the election.
Obiano was leading in 20 local government areas results received so far. But INEC has deferred declaration of all the results till when the results from Idemili North Local Government Area are collated.
A rerun was held in 65 wards in Idemili North on Sunday. Election was cancelled in the 65 wards because election materials could not be delivered there on Saturday.
But three political parties and their candidates have already called for the cancellation of the election, alleging widespread irregularities.
The parties are the Peoples Democratic Party, the Labour Party and All Progressives Congress, which also boycotted the rerun declared in the 65 polling units in Idemili North Local Government Area on Sunday.
The candidates for the three parties, Tony Nwoye, Ifeanyi Ubah and Chris Ngige, at a joint press conference later in the day rejected the conduct of the election.
The All Progressives Grand Alliance however praised the conduct of the election and said INEC had fulfilled its promise to make the election the best it had ever conducted.
“We are satisfied with the way INEC has conducted this exercise so far. We are thoroughly satisfied with conduct of the security agencies,” the National Chairman of the party, Chief Victor Umeh, said.
Umeh accused those that questioned the credibility of the election of not being agents of the truth, who were only complaining because it had become clear to them that they would lose.
He said all the reports on the election were positive, saying there was no single report of violence as the police and army were at alert.
On the allegations that APGA rigged the process with INEC, Umeh said, “APGA will never rig election in this state. We believe in due process. We believe in the rule of law.”
Lamenting the way the election was conducted, Ngige said, “As we speak, I weep for Nigeria. I weep for this country called Nigeria. It is a country of great hope.
“But this generation of Nigerians does not want to bequeath anything good to the future generation. We want to keep them in a quagmire so that our children will ask, ‘why did they bring us here.?’
“INEC has taken one step forward in 2011 and three steps backwards in 2013. We do not know if Iwu’s INEC is better than this INEC.”
Updates: 9.50 pm: PDP, APC, LP reject election, call for cancellation
Monday 18th November 2013
Updates 7.45 a.m: The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has refused to declare APGA’s Obiano winer of the Anambra gubernatorial election with majority votes of 174,710.
This was because the total numbers of cancelled votes was more than the difference between the numbers of votes cast for the winner and the runner up of this election according to the State INEC official who read the results at about 6am Monday morning.
The PDP had 94956 while the APC had 92300.
The INEC official however said that there will be a suplimentry election in the areas where election where
canceled. He also enjoined politicians to give Peace a chance.
More details coming up shortly.
He said an electoral officer in charge of the area sabotaged INEC’s preparations by allegedly withholding materials rather than distributing them.
Besides, he said the result sheets, which differ according to units, were jumbled up.
The commission had to take time to rectify the mix up, which resulted in the delays experienced, he said.
Jega said he suspected that the officer was induced by someone who wanted to subvert the process, adding that the alleged culprit has been handed over to the police for prosecution.
The INEC, chairman, who spoke on AIT during a programme on the election, which was monitored in Awka, said every effort would be made to get to the root of the alleged sabotage.
He said: “We made all the preparations and decentralised the process of distribution of materials in order to ensure that they get to the polling units in time for the commencement of the election. That was before Saturday.
“Unfortunately and regrettably – we are humans. We can do all the preparations, but if people are determined to subvert the process, one way or the other they will subvert it.
“So, they used our staff. I think we should be very careful when we have a staff of about 12,000 in INEC, when one person has committed an offence and then you use it to generalise or condemn everybody in INEC.
“Our Electoral Officer in charge of Idemili North Local Government, for inexplicable reasons, messed up the distribution of ballot box papers and result sheets. That was the cause of the delay in the distribution of materials in Idemili.
“All materials were to have been distributed by Friday evening, but for some odd reasons, they made sure that they held onto some of the result sheets, and they also gave wrong result sheets to different polling units.
“For Anambra election, as we did in Edo and Ondo, every polling unit has a unique result sheet. So, you cannot take one result sheet to a different place, because it will not work.
“I assured the stakeholders when we met in Awka that materials must get to the polling units before commencement of election.
“So, when we discovered at about 1am that there was this mix-up, and we tried to reach the Electoral Officer and the supervisor and there was confusion, and we knew something was fishy, we said there would be no deployment until we sorted out the problem.
“As I speak, we have handed over the Electoral Officer to the police because clearly what he did is a sabotage of the electoral process, including the Local Government supervisor.
“It took us until about 1pm to be able to sort out what they had jumbled up. We communicated with the community as at 1pm that we were ready to distribute to all the other wards, and materials were distributed.”
Jega said INEC officials consulted with the community before rescheduling the election, which the All Progressives Congress (APC) rejected.
Updates 9.48 pm: INEC set to declare Obiano winner of Anambra election
Chief Willie Obiano, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in last Saturday’s governorship election is set to be declared winner of the election.
Obiano was leading in 20 local government areas results received so far. But INEC has deferred declaration of all the results till when the results from Idemili North Local Government Area are collated.
A rerun was held in 65 wards in Idemili North on Sunday. Election was cancelled in the 65 wards because election materials could not be delivered there on Saturday.
But three political parties and their candidates have already called for the cancellation of the election, alleging widespread irregularities.
The parties are the Peoples Democratic Party, the Labour Party and All Progressives Congress, which also boycotted the rerun declared in the 65 polling units in Idemili North Local Government Area on Sunday.
The candidates for the three parties, Tony Nwoye, Ifeanyi Ubah and Chris Ngige, at a joint press conference later in the day rejected the conduct of the election.
The All Progressives Grand Alliance however praised the conduct of the election and said INEC had fulfilled its promise to make the election the best it had ever conducted.
“We are satisfied with the way INEC has conducted this exercise so far. We are thoroughly satisfied with conduct of the security agencies,” the National Chairman of the party, Chief Victor Umeh, said.
Umeh accused those that questioned the credibility of the election of not being agents of the truth, who were only complaining because it had become clear to them that they would lose.
He said all the reports on the election were positive, saying there was no single report of violence as the police and army were at alert.
On the allegations that APGA rigged the process with INEC, Umeh said, “APGA will never rig election in this state. We believe in due process. We believe in the rule of law.”
Lamenting the way the election was conducted, Ngige said, “As we speak, I weep for Nigeria. I weep for this country called Nigeria. It is a country of great hope.
“But this generation of Nigerians does not want to bequeath anything good to the future generation. We want to keep them in a quagmire so that our children will ask, ‘why did they bring us here.?’
“INEC has taken one step forward in 2011 and three steps backwards in 2013. We do not know if Iwu’s INEC is better than this INEC.”
Updates: 9.50 pm: PDP, APC, LP reject election, call for cancellation
The
candidates of the three leading opposition parties in Anambra State on
Sunday rejected the Saturday governorship election, calling it a
monumental charade.
The candidates are those of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Chris Ngige, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Comrade Tony Nwoye and the candidate of the Labour Party ( LP) Dr Ifeanyi Ubah.
They called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to as a matter of urgency cancelled the election and arrange the conduct of a fresh one in the state before the March, 2014 hand over date by Governor Peter Obi.
Speaking on behalf of the candidates, Ngige said the call became necessary because the election was characterized by irregularities and fraudulent practices for which they can not but reject the election.
” We are here to tell the whole world that the as a result of the high scale irregularities and fraudulent practices which characterized the faulty election, we call for the cancellation of the election which held yesterday in Anambra State and we hereby use this opportunity to call on the INEC to do that and arrange a new governorship election in the state at which the people will elect a governor of their choice in a free and fair manner”, Ngige said.
Explaining their decision, Ngige listed five grounds which necessitated their line of action including fraudulent voters register, the manipulation of results sheets, security harassment, and large scale financial inducement of voters at polling units by the ruling party.
” So, when we reviewed all this things, we have come to the inevitable conclusion that this Commission is determined to go back to the old ways of doing things, and we will not accept that. The gains of the 2011 elections have been lost through this singular election in Anambra State. We therefore, without equivocations call for the cancellation of the election and a new one conducted”, he said.
He also warned that they had requested that no result should be announced as the election cannot be validly said to be conclusive yet.
He pleaded with INEC not to provoke the people of Anambra State. The two other candidates took turn to support the call by Ngige.
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/52234.html
The candidates are those of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Chris Ngige, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Comrade Tony Nwoye and the candidate of the Labour Party ( LP) Dr Ifeanyi Ubah.
They called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to as a matter of urgency cancelled the election and arrange the conduct of a fresh one in the state before the March, 2014 hand over date by Governor Peter Obi.
Speaking on behalf of the candidates, Ngige said the call became necessary because the election was characterized by irregularities and fraudulent practices for which they can not but reject the election.
” We are here to tell the whole world that the as a result of the high scale irregularities and fraudulent practices which characterized the faulty election, we call for the cancellation of the election which held yesterday in Anambra State and we hereby use this opportunity to call on the INEC to do that and arrange a new governorship election in the state at which the people will elect a governor of their choice in a free and fair manner”, Ngige said.
Explaining their decision, Ngige listed five grounds which necessitated their line of action including fraudulent voters register, the manipulation of results sheets, security harassment, and large scale financial inducement of voters at polling units by the ruling party.
” So, when we reviewed all this things, we have come to the inevitable conclusion that this Commission is determined to go back to the old ways of doing things, and we will not accept that. The gains of the 2011 elections have been lost through this singular election in Anambra State. We therefore, without equivocations call for the cancellation of the election and a new one conducted”, he said.
He also warned that they had requested that no result should be announced as the election cannot be validly said to be conclusive yet.
He pleaded with INEC not to provoke the people of Anambra State. The two other candidates took turn to support the call by Ngige.
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/52234.html
Monday 18th November 2013
Updates 7.45 a.m: The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has refused to declare APGA’s Obiano winer of the Anambra gubernatorial election with majority votes of 174,710.
This was because the total numbers of cancelled votes was more than the difference between the numbers of votes cast for the winner and the runner up of this election according to the State INEC official who read the results at about 6am Monday morning.
The PDP had 94956 while the APC had 92300.
The INEC official however said that there will be a suplimentry election in the areas where election where
canceled. He also enjoined politicians to give Peace a chance.
More details coming up shortly.
12:40pm:
No fewer than 20 election officials in the Anambra governorship poll
were attacked in the early hours of Sunday by armed robbery suspects
along the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway.
1:30pm: Vanguard gathered that collation of results is completed in all local government areas except in Idemili north where election is ongoing.
1:35pm: Tony Nwoye, the PDP candidate says Jega is worse than Iwu, adding that INEC scientifically rigged the election.
1:50pm: Meanwhile, INEC chairman, Prof Jega was on AIT and here are excerpts of his interview, as released by INEC:
” The Electoral Officer in charge of Idemili North… messed up distribution of electoral materials .We believe strongly that there was connivance between the EO and unknown agents to subvert the electoral proces and the Electoral Officer & LGA Supervisor in charge of Idemili North have been handed over to the police.
2:20pm: Prof Jega says; “ Results in all LGAs were elections were held has been compiled and sent to INEC Hqtrs; As soon as Idemili North results arrive, state collation will be done and the Returning Officer will announce the results the moment collation is concluded.”
2:45pm: PDP candidate, Tony Nwoye blasts Anambra Resident Electoral Commissioner, alleging that he compromised, just as he calls for the cancellation of election results.
4:00pm: Apathy mars Sunday’s rescheduled election in Idemili north LGA; a polling unit with 1000 registered voters, for example, recorded 100 accredited voters.
4:05pm: counting of votes is on at People’s Club poling unit, Nkpor Old Road.
4:10pm: The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) said that it would not subscribe to total cancellation of the Anambra Governorship Election.
4:30pm:APGA chairman, Victor Umeh is holding a press briefing on the Anambra Governorship election. Details soon.
4:40pm: The All Progressives Congress (APC) has demanded a total cancellation of Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra State based on the massive disenfranchisement of people across the state, caused by the blatant incompetent and/or deliberate sabotage by the electoral commission itself.
In a statement issued in Lagos,Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,the party said the call for total cancellation supersedes its early call for a rerun in four local government areas,and is based on the report it received from its agents as well as from local and foreign observers during the poll.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/11/anambra-guber-elections-live-updates/#sthash.Kkb7mwjF.dpuf
1:30pm: Vanguard gathered that collation of results is completed in all local government areas except in Idemili north where election is ongoing.
1:35pm: Tony Nwoye, the PDP candidate says Jega is worse than Iwu, adding that INEC scientifically rigged the election.
1:50pm: Meanwhile, INEC chairman, Prof Jega was on AIT and here are excerpts of his interview, as released by INEC:
” The Electoral Officer in charge of Idemili North… messed up distribution of electoral materials .We believe strongly that there was connivance between the EO and unknown agents to subvert the electoral proces and the Electoral Officer & LGA Supervisor in charge of Idemili North have been handed over to the police.
2:20pm: Prof Jega says; “ Results in all LGAs were elections were held has been compiled and sent to INEC Hqtrs; As soon as Idemili North results arrive, state collation will be done and the Returning Officer will announce the results the moment collation is concluded.”
2:45pm: PDP candidate, Tony Nwoye blasts Anambra Resident Electoral Commissioner, alleging that he compromised, just as he calls for the cancellation of election results.
4:00pm: Apathy mars Sunday’s rescheduled election in Idemili north LGA; a polling unit with 1000 registered voters, for example, recorded 100 accredited voters.
4:05pm: counting of votes is on at People’s Club poling unit, Nkpor Old Road.
4:10pm: The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) said that it would not subscribe to total cancellation of the Anambra Governorship Election.
4:30pm:APGA chairman, Victor Umeh is holding a press briefing on the Anambra Governorship election. Details soon.
4:40pm: The All Progressives Congress (APC) has demanded a total cancellation of Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra State based on the massive disenfranchisement of people across the state, caused by the blatant incompetent and/or deliberate sabotage by the electoral commission itself.
In a statement issued in Lagos,Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,the party said the call for total cancellation supersedes its early call for a rerun in four local government areas,and is based on the report it received from its agents as well as from local and foreign observers during the poll.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/11/anambra-guber-elections-live-updates/#sthash.Kkb7mwjF.dpuf
11:42am:
A citizen reporter, Emmanuel says that election is ongoing in
Idemili-north LGA at the polling unit at the Peoples Club Owerri road.
According to him, INEC officials arrived by 10.30am and immediately
commenced accreditation. - See more at:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/11/anambra-guber-elections-live-updates/#sthash.lU9EECRd.dpuf
