No going back on Anambra supplementary election – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission, on Sunday, said that it would go ahead with the November 30 supplementary governorship election in Anambra State.

The commission said this in reaction to threats by the governorship candidates of Peoples Democratic Party (Tony Nwoye); Labour Party (Ifeanyi Ubah) and the All Progressive Congress (Chris Ngige) that they would not participate in the supplementary election.

Ngige, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, had told journalists on Friday that the three candidates would not like to be used as ‘guinea pig” to give legitimacy to the controversial election.

He alleged that the register used for the election was printed in Enugu.

But the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, told The PUNCH that there was no going back on the supplementary election.

“A date has been fixed for the supplementary election. Will the commission stop the election after announcing the date and setting processes for the election in motion?” Idowu said.

According to him, conducting the supplementary poll will not affect the credibility of the commission.

“INEC has a task to carry out under the law of this land. It is obligated to undertake the task,” he stated.

On the fact that Anambra governorship election was a pointer to how the 2015 general elections would be, he said, “There is always a challenge engaging  with sweeping generalisations.”

The commission had on Friday in Abuja ignored the call by the APC for the cancellation of the Anambra State governorship election.

It said there was no evidence that would warrant outright cancellation.

But the APC on Sunday insisted that there was enough substantial evidence for INEC to cancel the controversial poll.

“Our party has provided incontrovertible and more than substantial evidence to show that what took place on November 16 was a parody of election,” the  party said in a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

The party asked, “What other evidence can be more compelling than the INEC Chairman’s admission of compromise by a top official of the commission? If Jega’s statement that the election fell short of what the commission had expected and prepared for, what else could be more substantial?’’

It recalled that the APC candidate complained in writing to INEC that Prof. Chukwuemeka Onukogu should not be allowed to conduct the election, given his bias and animosity towards him (Ngige).

The party said if its reasons were not considered substantial enough, “then one is left with no choice but to conclude that either Prof. Jega is decidedly being naive about the extent and scope of the multi-layer rigging perpetrated under his nose on November 16 or he has chosen to align with election marauders who are acting the larger script of the presidency/PDP.

‘‘Either way, the buck stops on Prof. Jega’s desk or he bears the ultimate responsibility for the failure of the November 16 election.”

The APC said that Jega must summon the courage to ameliorate the situation by ordering a fresh election.

“Failure to do that will mean that he has simply abdicated his responsibility and ruined the people’s confidence in the ability of the commission he heads to remain an unbiased umpire,’’ it said.

PUNCH NG