Anambra: 23 candidates vie for governorship seat
Finally, the D! Day has come. It is decision day for the people of Anambra State.
Campaigns are over; it is the turn of the people to have their say. Will the 1,784,536 registered voters in Anambra State vote right? Will their votes count? These are pertinent questions that are playing in the mind as the people troupe out to decide who will administer the affairs of the state for the next four years.
Though 23 candidates are listed on the ballot paper, pundits have narrowed the election to a four-horse race among the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), has 23 candidates contesting to succeed incumbent Governor Peter Obi.
Security agencies have taken extra measures to ensure a hitch-free election. For this purpose all entry points were closed from 6pm Friday to Sunday. Besides, security was beefed up at the Asaba, Onitsha boundary and Enugu, Awka boundary and the Oguta boundary.
On the ground observers indicate that the commercial city of Onitsha was calm as Police and other security agencies were seen patrolling the streets on Friday. Also, people were seen making last minute purchases, as the markets and all commercial outlets would be closed today, while movement would also be restricted.
In order to effectively monitor the election, over 400 civil society groups under the umbrella of the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) were already on ground with over 600 election observers in all the 21 local government areas in the state.
Police deployed Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of operations, Philemon Leha who was a former commissioner of police in the state Three other commissioners of police have been posted to the three senatorial zones of the state, to assist him.
The three commissioners of police will also work with deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners of police, in addition to a large number of security operatives that would be assigned to all the polling units.
Abubakar warned during his interaction with Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman, and candidates and chairmen of the various political parties in Awka on Wednesday that nobody would be allowed to use his police orderly or escort today, adding that any police personnel found flouting the order would be dismissed from the force.
'If anybody breaks the law, we shall break him. If you have no business with the election, please stay in your house. We beg the people of this state to allow peace to reign. Do not take anything like walking stick or umbrella while going to vote because they constitute dangerous weapons. There should also be no fishing anywhere in Anambra State as the Nigerian Navy will not allow anybody on the waters,' he further warned.
According to reports, security operatives have encircled all the suspected trouble makers who had earlier entered the state and lodging in various hotels in Awka and Onitsha.
As one police officer put it, 'these people may have to remain in their hotel rooms throughout the period of this election because they will be fishing in troubled waters if they attempt to leave wherever they are staying now during the period of this election.
According to him, those who brought them into Anambra State may soon realize that they have wasted their resources because they won't have any opportunity to do any dirty job.
Jega has also said the controversial polling units hitherto located in a thick forest in Oyi Local Government Area were relocated to Nteje also in Oyi, ahead of today's election, stating that the highest number of the alleged multiple registration during the voters' registration exercise took place at the forest polling units.
He said: 'When we did the voters' registration in January, we found four polling units located at Oyi. We had to move them to Nteje where people live.''
Jega said though the final register for the election which was issued to the political parties had minor corrections, the final figure for today's election would not in any way be flawed as the errors found on the voters register had been corrected.
He assured registered voters that their names would not miss in the register adding, 'if you have a voters card and your name is not in the register, it means you are involved in double registration and you will be arrested.'
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC said the commission was ready for the election, as issues of logistics had been addressed, including the challenges of the riverine areas in the Ogbaru and Anam areas. The Chief Press Secretary to INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu, told THISDAY said that today’s election would be an improvement on the Edo and Ondo governorship elections.
Addressing a meeting of stakeholders at the Women Development Centre Awka, on Wednesday, INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega disclosed that arrangement had been concluded to provide unique result sheets in each polling booth, saying it will no longer be the case where INEC staff move one result sheet from one polling booth to another.
Profile of the frontrunners
Chief Willie Obiano (APGA); Senator Chris Ngige (APC); Comrade Tony Nwoye (PDP), and Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah (LP).
Obiano served as an Executive Director of Business Banking at Fidelity Bank Plc, having started his banking career with First Bank of Nigeria in 1981 from where he moved to Texaco Nigeria plc as an Accountant.
Nwoye, just 38, was elected President of the National Association of Nigerian Students in 2003, a platform believed to have propelled his chairmanship of the party in 2005 when he was just 31 years old.
Ngige is a medical doctor. He started his career as a civil servant and served at the National Assembly and State House clinics at different times.
Ubah, born on September 3, 1971, is the owner of Capital Oil and Gas, a multibillion naira oil company which controls over 30 per cent of distribution facilities in the country.
He has campaigned most intensely of all the candidates. With his deep puss, he is expected to do well in the election.