...says card-carrying members of PDP to oversee poll
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of working in tandem with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to rig the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State.
The party expressed serious doubt about the ability of the agency to conduct a free and fair gubernatorial election on November 16, given recent developments. The APC, in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, alleged that the top officials whom INEC plans to send to oversee the election are card-carrying members of the PDP; a development which it said has compromised their role as unbiased umpires.
The statement specifically mentioned the two INEC commissioners in charge of the South-East, Mr. Lawrence Nwuruku and Mrs. Gladys Nwafor, as card-carrying members of the PDP. The statement reads in part: "Mr. Nwuruku was the chairman of the PDP in Ebonyi State, while Mrs. Nwafor had worked closely with the First Lady, Patience Jonathan as a grassroots mobiliser.
These officials cannot, in all honesty, be expected to be unbiased, because they have been compromised by their antecedents. "If INEC indeed has any hope of organising a free, fair and transparent election in Anambra on November 16, it must immediately shelve the plan to send these highly-partisan and heavily-compromised officials to supervise the election. Any action short of that will open INEC to accusations of bias, which is not what any umpire wants."
Mohammed also expressed worry over some actions taken by INEC in recent times, which he said questioned the ability of the electoral umpire to stay above the fray as far as the Anambra election is concerned.
He said: "For example, the voters' register for Anambra in 2011 had 2.1 million names, which came down to 1.8 million after a review. However, despite continuous registration by INEC, the names came down to 1.7 million!
This kind of chicanery is only possible under a circumstance in which deliberate efforts are being made to depopulate the voters in areas where the opposition has an edge. "We are therefore left with no choice than to call on the National Assembly to seek explanations from INEC on the hankypanky.
This is necessary to ensure that the election is not rigged by the same body saddled with ensuring that it is transparently- organised." Saying that since the success of any election was not limited to actions taken on election day alone, the APC said it was closely monitoring all the processes leading to the election, with a view to ensuring that no candidate is short-changed by the very body that has the responsibility to ensure a level-playing field for all.