Anambra: APC seeks prosecution of REC •Insists on election cancellation •PDP indicts APC over poll

Progressives Congress (APC) has called for the transfer of Anambra State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Professor Chukwuemeka Onukaogu, out of the state and his eventual prosecution.

This was as the party called for an outright cancellation of the governorship election conducted last Saturday, claiming that a supplementary exercise was unwarranted.

National chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, made the demands in Abuja, on Thursday, while addressing a press conference on its formal petition to the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega.

Rather than conducting supplementary election in Idemili Local Government Area as being planned by INEC, Akande said a fresh governorship election should be organised.

The letter, entitled: “Request for outright cancellation of 2013 Anambra State governorship election,” dated November 18, 2013, was signed by Akande and the interim national secretary of the party, Alhaji Tijjani Tumsah.     

“We respectfully demand that the proposed supplementary election be discontinued and the entire election cancelled, pursuant to the powers vested in the commission by the Electoral Act, as amended.

“We further demand that your commission conducts fresh election to enable the people of Anambra State to elect a governor of their choice, devoid of manifest, widespread and substantial irregularities.

“In securing the integrity of such fresh election, we demand that the current REC for Anambra State, Professor Onukaogu, be transferred out of the state and a new REC be appointed to head Anambra State INEC and superintend such fresh election.

“We also demand the arrest and immediate prosecution of Professor Onukaogu and members of his syndicate involved in the electoral fraud that has brought odium and ridicule to Nigerians in the eyes of the world.

“These are the ways to rebuild public confidence in your commission and restore the integrity of the electoral process,” the petition read in part.

The APC chairman also demanded that no candidate in last Saturday’s election be returned as the winner, pending the conduct of fresh election.

He said the party’s demand was based on alleged irregularities and non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended.

To proceed with the election as proposed by INEC, Akande said, would amount to “a gruesome assault on the right of the people of Anambra State to elect a governor of their choice.”

He also said doing such would amount to legitimising “a grave travesty of the electoral process, as witnessed during the November 16 governorship election.”

Expatiating on the reasons for its call for cancellation, Akande said the voters’ register used for the election was tainted with vice, to such an extent that many voters, especially in its candidate, Senator Chris Ngige’s stronghold, were disenfranchised.

He also alleged that the register was padded with minors and multiple registrants in the local councils controlled by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Akande said monitors/observers accredited by INEC had roundly criticised the election as “gravely flawed and one that left a lot to be desired,” while he also said the irregularities reflected the lack of competence on the part of INEC in the conduct of elections.

Other reasons given by APC were that students were recruited as presiding officers and polling assistants, further compromising the electoral process.

Apart from the students, he further alleged that the staff of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, were recruited as supervisory presiding officers by Professor Onukaogu, contrary to INEC’s directive that staff of UNIZIK would not be used in the election, since the APGA deputy governorship candidate, Dr Nkem Okeke, was a senior lecturer with the university, prior to his candidacy.

APC, in the petition, also  debunked claims by INEC that only the courts had the power to cancel the election, saying, “a correct reading of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended, is to the effect that your commission cannot reverse itself where a candidate in the election has been returned as a winner.”

It said this had not been done, as the commission, on Monday, November 18, declared the election as inconclusive.

The APC national chairman, however, said the party would not hesitate to go to court, should INEC choose to go ahead with the supplementary election to decide the winner of the state governorship election.

In a reaction, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accused APC of hatching plot to unleash violence and rig the election, having discovered that it has been rejected by the people.

National publicity secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement on Thursday, said “the arraignment in court of the 182 armed thugs imported into Anambra by APC to cause mayhem has  justified PDP’s earlier commendation of security agencies for providing adequate security, in spite of the plan by APC to turn the state into a theatre of war and bloodshed.”

Stating that the APC was “trying to use Anambra to test its evil machination against the entire country,” the PDP said APC, having discovered that it would lose in 2015, “has hatched a heavily funded plot to use the instrumentality of blackmail, lies and propaganda to discredit the electoral system and cause massive uprising immediately after the 2015 elections.”

It described the APC as “a party of desperate politicians, deeply pained that Nigerians have rejected them,” adding that “it is on record that APC, since its formation, has not won any election, be it at the local, state or national level.”

The PDP said the Anambra election had, once again, shown that it remained the preeminent party in the state, adding that “in spite of internal challenges and discordant tunes, PDP members put up a credible showing during the process.”

INEC in a crucial meeting
INEC, on Thursday, held a closed door crucial meeting in Abuja, over the conduct of the last Saturday governorship election in Anambra State.

The meeting was attended by the chairman of the commission, Professor Jega, all the national commissioners and RECs that took part in the election and the concerned relevant top officials of the commission.

A source close to the commission told the Nigerian Tribune that the meeting was summoned to review the conduct of the election, with a view to taking a common position on it and to come up with a new date for the supplementary election.

This came just as the commission promised that it would decide a new date for supplementary election in certain areas of Anambra State, where the last governorship election was inconclusive.

This was contained in INEC’s  bulletin volume 589, dated November 21, 2013 and made available to newsmen in Abuja.

The bulletin said the commission was scheduled to hold a crucial meeting on the conduct of the election on Thursday.

The commission disclosed that  113,113 registered voters would partake  in the supplementary election.

The Returning Officer for the governorship election, Professor James Epoke, had explained that the election was inconclusive, because the total number of registered voters in the affected areas exceeded the gap between the candidate with the largest votes cast and his runner-up.

INEC not ready for 2015 –Kalu
The immediate past governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, on Thursday, described the failed election in Anambra as an  indication that INEC was not ready for 2015 general election.

The development came even as he called for compromise between the national leadership of PDP and the seven aggrieved governors, saying it was through compromise that the ongoing dirty politics already tearing the party down could be resolved.

Kalu, during a chat with airport journalists, at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport on his way to Dubai, United Arab Emirate (UAE), said with the crisis over the Anambra election, INEC should go back to the drawing board and restrategise.

He described as shameful, plans by politicians to rig election, maintaining that most politicians jostling for political offices were vying in the interest of the people, but for their selfish motives.

He urged INEC and others to learn from the successes recorded from Zimbabwe and Liberia elections, saying Nigeria, as a leading country in the continent, should be a model.

Group condemns attack on women protesters
A leading human rights group in Nigeria, Committee for Democracy and Rights of the People (CDRP), has condemned the police attack on women protesters in the aftermath of flawed Anambra election.

The group, in a release signed by its acting coordinator, Saka Waheed, condemned what it termed unwarranted aggression of Nigeria Police against peaceful women protesters in Anambra.

Waheed said the inhuman treatment meted out to the women was a violation of not only the rights of women to peaceful protest, but also a violation of the constitution that guaranteed their rights.

INEC can’t afford to fail —Prof Alkali
Former national publicity secretary of PDP, Professor Rufai Ahmed Alkali, said INEC must not fail the country in 2015 general election.

He spoke against the backdrop of some lapses in the recent Anambra State governorship election.

Alkali spoke with newmen in Abuja, on Thursday, during the inaugural session of Nigerian Economic and Political Action Committee, a socio-political think-tank.

He stressed that notifiable lapses should be an “eye opener” for the commission, to prepare very well for subsequent elections in Nigeria.