Anambra 2021: Buhari, Uzodinma, APC’s plot to rig election exposed, Obiano kicks

The clandestine plot by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State to deploy federal might under the supervision of President Muhammadu Buhari to rig the Anambra State governorship election has been exposed. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been identified to be an accomplice in the plot to use the Imo State government to rig the November 6 Anambra State governorship. The INEC made an unprecedented   decision to store non-sensitive materials for the Anambra governorship election at the INEC office in Owerri, Imo State, while the election holds in Anambra State. Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State is the chairman of the APC campaign committee for the Anambra governorship election.

Also, the INEC was alleged to be recruiting ad hoc staff for the Anambra election from Imo State.

Meanwhile, Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State has declared that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the people of Anambra State will resist the plot by the president and Imo governor to use Imo State to rig the Anambra election. he vowed that they will resist the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to store non-sensitive materials for the November 6  at INEC office in Owerri, Imo State.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had indicated that the commission’s office in Owerri, Imo State, would be used to facilitate the movement of non-sensitive materials for the Anambra governorship election. The INEC chairman justified the decision with reference to the destruction of INEC’s office in Anambra.

Governor Obinao in          Awka, speaking through his Special Adviser on Political Matters, Ifeatu Obiokoye, insisted that INEC should retrace its step on using the decision to use Imo to rig the Anambra election, threatening that the commission will face strong opposition. He argued that the idea is to rig the governorship election for the party’s candidate.

“Beyond the issue of storing INEC materials meant for Anambra election in APC State, Imo, there was a letter we sent out expressing our rejection of Owerri or any other APC State involving actively in the Anambra election.

“What informed the letter was the rumour that some ad-hoc staff and returning officers for the Anambra election are being recruited from the Imo State University.

“In the next few days, all the political parties taking part in the Anambra election, except APC, will sign the communique, which will be forwarded to INEC.

“The letter will state our decision that we, as people and all the political parties, except APC, will reject any ad-hoc staff recruited from Imo State, in particular, and generally, from any APC state.

“For us, this issue of keeping the sensitive material in INEC office in Imo is totally unacceptable because, it now conforms with our earlier desire to write that we would have nothing to do with the Imo State structures, Imo personnel, and indeed, any APC state, for the purposes of election in Anambra. “There are other states closer to Anambra, including Delta and Enugu, if what they’re claiming is correct.

“Let me also tell INEC that we’ve had this kind of situation in the past, where sensitive materials were kept in the central bank in that state. It has happened before in Enugu State. Those sensitive materials were kept in the CBN, and were indeed, distributed from the central bank in Enugu. We have a central bank in Anambra State. If the reason they are giving is correct, these materials could be kept at the central bank here and be distributed from there.

“It is also curious to note that for more than four months, after INEC office was destroyed in Anambra, this matter is coming to the public domain for the first time. It is mischievous; it doesn’t make sense! What we heard from INEC was that non sensitive materials were destroyed.

“We were never told that sensitive structure that will sustain the process of the election was ever affected by that attack. We reject it and will also make sure that we resist it.

“Unless INEC do not intend to conduct election on the 6th of November, the people of Anambra State will reject any move to rig the election. Nobody; I mean nobody, should ever play games with Anambra State.

“INEC, by that announcement, do not really want to keep it at the INEC office. They actually want to operate from Governor Uzodinma’s bedroom. They want to recruit returning officers from Imo, and also write the original result sheets in the state. So, if they succeed in operating from Imo, coming to Anambra to conduct election will be mere formality,” Governor Obiano declared.