The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday gave 16 reasons why last Saturday's Anambra governorship poll should be cancelled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The party insisted that the poll was not only marred by irregularities, it was conducted without compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
It advised INEC to pull the brakes on the proposed Supplementary Election ? in line with the powers vested on it by the Electoral Act.
The APC made the demands in a November 18, 2013 letter to the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega.
The party said since no candidate has been declared as the winner of the poll, INEC can cancel it.
The letter was released to the public at a briefing addressed by the APC National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande.
Akande addressed the press alongside the National Secretary of the party, Alhaji Tijjani Tumsa; the National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; the National Treasurer, Hajiya Sadia Umar Farouk;
Deputy National Organising Secretary, Senator Lawal Shuaibu and the Deputy National Secretary, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai.
The party listed other reasons for the cancellation of the poll as follows:
1)tainted Voters' Register. The register used for the poll was different from the ones issued to parties;
2)INEC claimed 1,763,751 were registered voters, only 451, 826 voters could find their names;
3)failure to deploy election officials in sufficient numbers;
4)election materials were not distributed in a timely manner,
5)recruitment of election officials at the election venue and deployment without any form of training,
6)INEC's failure to respond to operational challenges on time;
7)INEC's admission of irregularities in 16 local government areas, 1,380 polling units with 600,000 voters affected;
8)disenfranchisement of many voters;
9)results were brought without being publicly announced by the local government area collation officers;
10)disappearance of Ms. Seyi Oguntuwase with all the Result Sheets;
11)the integrity of the announced results cannot be vouchsafed;
12)poor rating of the collation process by the Nigeria Civil Society Election Situation Room;
13)INEC official working in concert with some outside influence compromised the election in Idemili North; and
14)Anambra REC had undisguised and deep-seated bias against the defunct ACN and APC candidate, Dr. Chris Ngige.
The APC seven-page letter reads in part: "We note that your commission has announced plans to conduct 'Supplementary Election' in 201 Polling Units in 16 Local Government Areas of Anambra State. As at date, the names of the polling areas affected is yet to be released.
"We respectfully demand that the commission discontinue all arrangements for the conduct of the said 'Supplementary Election'. We also demand that no candidate in the said election should be returned as the winner pending the conduct of 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 right of the people of Anambra State to elect a governor of their choice and a legitimising of a grave travesty of the electoral process as witnessed during the November 16, 2013 Governorship Election."
The party insisted that INEC was not constrained by the Electoral Act in canceling the governorship poll.
APC added: "Having regard to the foregoing, it is inevitable that the election is fundamentally flawed and cannot be redeemed by the proposed 'Supplementary Election'.
"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. 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."
"Therefore, the assertion by your Chief Press Secretary, Kayode Idowu as reported in the Punch Newspaper of Tuesday, 19th November, 2013 to the effect that "By law, those results are now beyond the purview of INEC to invalidate. Only the courts have that power now to do so... All that the Commission can do is to conduct a supplementary election so that the CRO can make a return" is erroneous and misconceived, given that a return is yet to be made. 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".
"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 people of Anambra State 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 Resident Electoral Commissioner for Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuemeka Onukaogu, be transferred out of Anambra State and a new Resident Electoral Commissioner be appointed to head Anambra State INEC and superintend such fresh election.
"We also demand that the arrest and immediate prosecution of Prof. 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 party went into the details of how the poll process was flawed.
The letter added in part: "Fundamentally, the integrity of an election is premised on an unassailable Voters' Register. The Voters' Register used for the election was tainted with vice, to the effect that many voters were disenfranchised across most Local Government Areas (LGAs0 of Anambra state, particularly in the stronghold of our candidate. Further, the said voters register in the LGAs controlled by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), our major opponent, were padded with minors and multiple registrants, contrary to the assurances given by the National Chairman and Director of ICT Department, Mr. Nwafor at the Stakeholders' Meeting held at Awka on the 13th November, 2013. Further, the late issuance of the final voters' register to the political parties on the 13th November, 2013 ? barely 2 (two) days to the all-important election was calculated to aid the irregularities that we now complain about.
"While our initial preliminary observations had identified 4 (four) LGAs where the election was seriously flawed, the Commission not only admitted that these irregularities indeed occurred but widened the scope of the areas where the electoral malpractices and irregularities occurred to 16 (sixteen) LGAs and 210 Polling Units 9PUS0 with 113, 113 registered voters, thereby affecting a substantial part of the constituency.
"Our reports from our field agents had catalogued about 1,380 (PUs) of about 600,000 voters with one form of irregularity or the other ranging from lack of result sheets before voting and non-recording or announcement of results by Presiding Officers on the instruction of the Supervisory Presiding Officers(SPOs) and Electoral Officers(EOs).
"Though you had contended that only the electorate in Obosi, Idemili North LGA was disenfranchised, it is now apparent that these irregularities were more widespread than earlier envisaged by you.
"To worsen matters, the commission illegally proceeded to conduct another election at Obosi on a Sunday, notwithstanding the absence of a Legal Notice to the political parties and the voters in the constituency.
"The action of the commission was also an affront to the religious sensibilities of the predominantly Christian population in the constituency. This led to the disenfranchisement of most voters, thereby casting a further slur on the integrity of the process."
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