APC Threatens Legal Action If INEC Refuses To Cancel Anambra Election

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has formally petitioned the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Attahiru Jega seeking the cancellation of last weekend’s governorship election in Anambra State and the conduct of a fresh poll, failing which it shall seek legal remedy to stop the planned supplementary election.

In the petition dated November 18 and jointly signed by its interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande and interim National Secretary, Alhaji Tijjani Tumsah, the party also demanded the immediate arrest and prosecution of the Anambra Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof, Chukwuemeka Onukogu, along with members of his “syndicate”.

But as APC insisted on the cancellation of the poll, Jega was holding a meeting yesterday with his national commissioners and Onukaogu.

The chairman’s Chief Press Secretary, Kayode Idowu, said Jega would brief the media on the decision of the commission on the supplementary election.

However, Akande reading from a copy of the petition at a crowded press conference at the APC headquarters in Abuja, urged the commission to discontinue all arrangements for the conduct of the supplementary election and demanded that no candidate in the November 16 poll should be returned as the winner, pending the conduct of a fresh election.

“Our demand is predicated on the serious irregularities and non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended which characterised the conduct of the said election.

“To proceed with the election as proposed by your commission will amount to a gruesome assault on the rights of the people of Anambra State to elect a governor of their choice and the legitimising of a grave travesty of the electoral process as witnessed during the November 16, 2013 governorship election,” APC said.

The party said if the call for a fresh election is ignored, it would have no choice than to use legal means to get justice done on the matter.

“The commission is therefore duly empowered to reject the purported results as announced. It is instructive that it is the prior cancellation of results by the commission that has led to the affected areas being included in the areas for which the supplementary election is to be held.

“If they continue with the illegality, the only recourse open to us as democrats is to go to court,” it said.

Giving further reasons for its call for the cancellation, the party said the voters’ register used for the election was tainted with vice, to the extent that many voters, especially in Senator Chris Ngige's stronghold, were disenfranchised, while the register was padded with minors and multiple registrants in the local government areas controlled by All Prpgressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

It stated that APC field agents had catalogued about 1,380 polling units of about 600,000 voters with one form of irregularity or the other, adding that the monitors/observers accredited by INEC have roundly criticised the election as “gravely flawed”, left a lot to be desired, and reflected the lack of competence on the part of INEC in the conduct of election.

The results, the party also alleged, were also brought in without being publicly announced by the LGA collation officers.

According to APC, election materials were not distributed in a timely manner in many polling units, thus affecting the timely commencement of accreditation and voting.
The party said another reason for faulting the poll was that the commission failed to deploy election officials in sufficient numbers to several polling units, adding that election officials were recruited at the election venue and deployed without any form of training.

Furthermore, it cited the recruitment of students as presiding officers and polling assistants and the fact that staff members of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, were recruited as supervisory presiding officers (SPOs) by 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.

In the petition, APC also debunked claims by INEC that only the courts have 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. This has not been done.

“Indeed, your commission had on Monday, 18th November, 2013 declared the election as ‘inconclusive’.”

The party held the view that in an electoral process, a ward or local government collation officer who stands in the same position as state collation/returning officer can cancel or reject results submitted to him at ward or local government level where the result is tainted with vice or irregularities.

While answering questions from journalists, Akande who was flanked by party bigwigs, including the interim National Secretary, Musa Tumnsa; Deputy National Secretary, Malam el-Rufai and the interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, accused INEC of working in cahoot with the PDP to frustrate Ngige’s chances.

He said APC had evidence to show that the present  INEC was not fit to conduct elections in Nigeria.

“From the behaviour of INEC in both the senatorial bye-election in Delta and Anambra governorship election, there is a clear indication that the commission is working for PDP and not for Nigeria,” he alleged.

However, reacting to APC’s petition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said that the unfolding events in the Anambra election had vindicated its earlier position on the plot by APC to discredit INEC, unleash violence in the state, and rig the election having discovered that it had been rejected by the people.

PDP's National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement said: “The arraignment in court of the 182 armed thugs imported into Anambra by the APC to cause mayhem and disrupt the election has justified PDP’s earlier commendation to security agencies for providing adequate security and the enabling environment to ensure that election held peacefully and without violence in spite of the plan by the 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 machinations against the entire country, PDP said, the opposition party, having discovered that it will 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 general election.

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

“Having realised that it has no chance of winning in 2015 and is equally scared of losing states currently under its unfortunate control, the APC is now seeking every means to cast doubts in the minds of Nigerians on the electoral system ahead of the general election.

“This explains why the APC will continue to cry foul in elections where they were roundly beaten as in the Delta senatorial re-run election where they came fourth; Ondo governorship election where they came third and Anambra governorship where they also came third despite their grandstanding and long period of campaign.”

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

“We therefore commend the state chairman and all members of the party in Anambra including our candidate, Tony Nwoye,” the party said.

Meanwhile, as at press time, the Election Management Board (EMB), comprising Jega and the national commissioners of INEC, was being debriefed on the outcome of the Anambra governorship election.

INEC in its bulletin said that the supplementary election is expected to take place 210 polling units (PUs) across 16 local governments in the state.
The local government areas affected are: Ayamelum, 3 PUs; Anambra East, 1 PU; Anambra West, 6 PUs; Anaocha, 1 PU; Awka N, 2 PUs; Aguata, 1 PU; Awka South, 1 PU; Ekwusigo, 3 PUs; Idemili North, 160 PUs; Idemili South, 1 PU;  Ihiala, 3 PUs; Nnewi South, 2 PUs; Onitsha North, 1 PU; Onitsha South, 17 PUs; Orumba North, 4 PUs; and Oyi, 4 PUs.

The commission listed the three challenges it faced in the Anambra poll to include the disappearance of the Idemili North electoral officer, missing names from the voters’ register, and irregularities in 210 polling units.