Situation Room: Anambra Election Didn’t Provide Challenges That Tested Amupitan

•Hails INEC for glitch-free result collation 

•Says 97% polling unit level results uploaded within 5 hours 

•AA candidate greets Soludo, urges others to join in building state

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka

The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room,  yesterday, said weekend’s Anambra State governorship election did not really provide the expected challenges needed to put the newly appointed Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, to real test.

It however commended the commission for what it described as the quick and drama-free results collation process, in the just concluded Anambra State Governorship election.

It said the entire process of result collation was devoid of the irregularities typically associated with INEC’s vote tabulation and score recording at Collation Centres.

Doing a breakdown of the challenges and the good produced by the exercise, it said, “Situation Room noted that the Anambra governorship election did not seem to provide the expected challenges needed to put the newly appointed INEC chairman, to real test.”

However, the election observation group said that election recorded 35 incidents of violence across the 1000 polling units, ranging from group clashes, voter intimidation and harassment, physical assault, ballot box snatching and one fatality.

It also said last Saturday’s governorship election witnessed incidents of vote-buying and some measure of apathy by the Anambra electorate.

The outcome of the governorship election saw the incumbent governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo record a landslide, defeating other opposition candidates in the 21 local government areas of the state.

While presenting its final report on the exercise to journalists in Abuja, yesterday, the Situation Room, in the report jointly signed by the Convener, Yunusa Z. Ya’u, along with Co-Conveners, Mimidoo Achakpa and Franklin Oloniju, said the Bimodal Voting Accreditation System (BVAS) functioned optimally in most polling units, though there were isolated cases of malfunction and slow voter accreditation, were reported, requiring replacements.

Generally, the Situation Room noted that the election was peaceful with voters conducting themselves calmly at the polling units with a few incidents of violence.

“Situation Room particularly commends the quick and drama-free results collation process, which was devoid of the irregularities typically associated with INEC’s vote tabulation and score recording at Collation Centres.

“If this continues in future elections, then it will be a positive and encouraging development in electoral management.

“Situation Room observed that the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) came alive shortly after the official hour for close of polls and achieved 97 per cent uploads of polling unit level results (Form EC 8A) within five hours, precisely at 7:30pm on election day.

“This is also commendable. Situation Room observed that Poster EC 30E for voters with visual impairment were conspicuously displayed in some of the polling units visited,” it said.

On the shortcomings observed during the election, Situation Room said polls opened relatively late in many locations, primarily due to delayed arrival which INEC  officials blamed on transport companies it engaged for the exercise .

Also, it said assistive materials for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) was inconsistent and that braille guide and magnifying glasses were not available in some of the voting locations where they were mostly needed.

In the area of provision of security, the Situation Room said its observers  reported that security agents generally managed their duties with civility throughout the election process.

It added that there were visible presence of numerous senior-level security officers from both the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) as well as other arms of the security agencies deployed across Anambra State during the election.

Meanwhile, candidate of the Action Alliance in last Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra State, Mr Jeff Nweke, has congratulated Soludo on his victory in the election.

Nweke who addressed journalists, yesterday, said, “Our people have spoken, and so far so good it went well and one will not but commend the civility and also respect the choice of our people.

“Our people voted and exercised their franchise, and that is key, to show that our people are mature. The people were free and they cast their votes according to their wishes, irrespective of account of vote buying, and I think the result reflects the wishes of the people of the state.

“I have sent my congratulatory message to him (the governor) and it shows the people are happy with his good governance. He said he will ensure his government will be inclusive this time and have extended a hand of partnership to all candidates, and I wish him well and the very best in serving Anambra people.

“I want other people to accept this and know that the people have spoken. I heard of vote buying but in my booth, I didn’t see it. Of course I was not everywhere, but even though there was vote buying, no one was forced to vote against their will. My congratulations to the governor elect.”

Speaking about alleged threats by some candidates to challenge the election, Nweke said, “It has always been the case in Africa that once an election is conducted, people feel aggrieved and go to court.

“My question is, why do people go to court? I was in the election and I witnessed it and I will not be going to court and there is no reason to go to court, and my advice is that we should join hands to move the state forward. So, I urge other to join hands in making things better.”