Stakeholders on Tuesday warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that wealthy people are determined to procure the November 18, Anambra State governorship election.
Speaking in Abuja on “Anambra Governorship Election: Critical Issues and What INEC should do to ensure. Successful polls, the Lead Speaker who is also the Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Prof. Stella Okunna, warned the commission that “some members of the wealthy class believe they can buy anything including election results.”
Meanwhile, the INEC had revealed why the election is important to it.
According to the National Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, the electorate in the state lost confidence in the commission since a court upturned its election after two years.
He said the commission also “repeated the same mistake in 2007 the commission also tried to conduct an illegal election to replace him and again he went back to court and consistently fought for his mandate and got it back.”
The chairman, who was represented by the Board of Electoral Institute at the policy dialogue for the election, however, noted that it would no longer be business as usual in the state.
But Okunna lamented although citizens of the state have distinguished themselves in different fields of human endeavour, they have been notorious in politics because of their excessive money.
She submitted that too much wealth has always marred election in the state, noting that too much money is already is exchanging hands.
According to her, there is an allegation that some of the candidates were already buying vehicles for INEC now that the election is fast approaching.
The lead speaker argued that for the state governor to purchase vehicles for the commission at this critical time is suspicious because it could influence the conduct of the umpire.
Okunna said although the state is now relatively peaceful, the commission must not take anything for granted as there have recently been pockets of security challenges such as the killings in a church and that of the distributor of the Sun Newspapers the same state.
The Don urged the commission to display its voters’ registers for the electorate to cross-check their names before the election.
On election monitoring, she noted that there are coalitions of election observers in the state which INEC must monitor.
She submitted that “Anambra is on the threshold of history as a Guinnea pig for credible election in Nigeria. Expectations are very high and there are those that are watching us fail.”
In his presentation, the President, International Peace and Civic Responsibility Centre (IPCRC) and Chairman Anambra State Civil Society Network (ANCSONET), Prince Chris Azor, described money inducement as another critical issue in the November 18 election.
He said that past experience showed a massive distribution of funds even on election day in the state with impunity, under the watchful eyes of security operatives and election management officials.
Continuing, he condemned these of campaign finance, corrupt electoral campaign financing-whether by private donors or government incumbents commandeering state resources-is damaging not only to the electoral process but to democracy itself. Political finance regulations are intended to create a level playing field for electoral competition.”
He raised the alarm that there are already proliferations of arms in the country, stressing that a recent survey by the Presidential Committee on Small Arms and light weapons in the state revealed a humongous cache of ammunition in private hands that posits danger to the election.
