Ngige, Nwoye, Ubah Jointly Advocate Cancellation Of Anambra Guber Poll

The trio of Sen. Chris Ngige of APC, Mr
Tony Nwoye of PDP and Dr Ifeanyi Ubah of LP have
jointly called for the cancellation of the Nov. 16
governorship election in Anambra.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the
trio had earlier at separate news conferences
expressed dismay with the conduct of the election.
Ngige, who spoke on their behalf at a joint news
conference in Awka on Sunday, urged the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a
fresh poll in the state.
“Our stand is that the election which started
yesterday (Saturday) has been beset with a lot of
irregularities and fraudulent practices and therefore,
we reject the poll and its subsequent outcome.
“The decision is predicated on
fraudulent malpractices as the election did not
conform to the Electoral Act.
“There were massive and gross irregularities in the
voters’ register used for the poll throughout the 21
local government areas by the electoral officers,” he
said.
The APC candidate recalled that political parties were
given copies of the register to ensure that voters were
not disenfranchised.
According to him, the parties had no reason to
petition the commission after receiving the document.
“Surprisingly, INEC announced a change in the
voters’ register given to us 48 hours to the election
which was too short for anyone to make any
impressionable work on the register with 4,208
polling units.
“Voters were disenfranchised in all the three
senatorial zones and we, therefore, reject the result
and its outcome,” he said.
The APC candidate alleged the poll was also marred
by the non-issuance of result sheets by electoral
officers in some areas as well as the disappearance
of result sheets in some cases.
He said that result sheets were deliberately
distributed to different polling units rather than the
ones they were designed for, saying that it was a ploy
against them in their strongholds.
“For instance, result sheets in
Uke, Oraukwu and Abete were found in Ogidi and
Nkpor even when they were coded with the same
number at the polling units,” he noted.
He also said that there was massive deployment of
security agents to harass their agents who were
forcefully removed from polling units.
“At a point, they alleged that our agents’ identity
cards were forged,” he added.
Ngige said they witnessed massive deployment of
government resources, alleging that government
officials, contractors and party chieftains and in some
few cases, town union presidents-general were co-
opted as agents to distribute money.
“Having viewed all these irregularities and having
noted the compromising stand of INEC, we have come
to the inevitable conclusion that INEC is determined
to go back to its old ways.
“We call on the commission to cancel the charade
perpetrated in Anambra between Nov. 16 and Nov. 17
and call for fresh election,” Ngige stressed.
He also said the Resident Electoral Commissioner in
the state, Prof. Chukwuemeka Onukaogu and other
officials of the commission should not be allowed to
conduct the fresh poll.
“Following our petitions, we request that no election
result should be announced. Whatever they are doing
will only end in futility unless they want to provoke
the people of the state,” Ngige warned.
Alluding to Ngige’s remark, Ubah said the integrity
of INEC was at stake, and urged its leadership to toe
the path of honour by conducting a fresh poll.
He said the commission should not allow the
situation to go down in history that it supported
fraud.
Also contributing, Nwoye, who aligned himself with
the Ngige and Ubah, said the election was a charade.
(NAN)
Chris Ngige, Tony Nwoye, Ifeanyi Ubah, Governorship
Election, Anambra, Independent National Electoral
Commission, Electoral Act