Insecurity: INEC Insists Election Will Proceed In Anambra
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured that it was determined to conduct the Nov. 6 governorship election in Anambra in spite of security challenges in the South East.
Prof Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of INEC said this in his opening speech at the emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), held in Abuja on Tuesday.
Yakubu said the register of voters will be presented to political parties in Awka in Oct.7 and that the Commission will publish the final list of candidates for the election on the same day.
He however noted that the situation had unfortunately deteriorated markedly since their last meeting about four years ago adding that many innocent lives had been lost and property destroyed.
“We wish to assure the people of Anambra State that the Commission is determined to proceed with the election as scheduled.
“To underscore this determination, the Commission is implementing two more activities on the timetable for the election in the next few days,” he said.
Yakubu said that the Commission had fully recovered from the damage on its Anambra State Office, Awka which was partly destroyed alongside some sensitive materials during an attack in May.
He said intelligence reports within their reach indicate that the goal of many of the attackers was that the governorship election scheduled for Nov.6 should not be held.
According to him, we are deeply concerned that specific electoral facilities and materials could once more become targets of attack.
“Happily, we have 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.
“We have sourced some of these materials such as the 326 electric generators and vehicles destroyed in the attack from neighbouring States.
“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,” he said.
The chairman said the Commission would continue to work with the security agencies and in consultation with respected opinion leaders in Anambra and the National Peace Committee to ensure that these hit-and-run attacks do not derail the electoral process.
“We appreciate the enormous challenges that the security agencies are presently facing in Anambra, which entail not only securing the electoral process, but also enforcing law and order generally.
“It is in the light of these recent and seemingly escalating threats to the election that the Commission has convened this emergency meeting,” he said.
