We Will Not Participate In Supplementary Elections–APC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday fixed November 30 for the conduct of the supplementary elections in the 210 polling units where elections were cancelled in the November 16 Governorship elections in Anambra State.

The Commission declared that there are no sufficient grounds or evidence to warrant the total cancellation of the results of the election as already announced.

Briefing newsmen in Abuja the INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega said: “The complaints by the candidate of by the Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) governorship candidate that his name was not on the voters' register would have been as a result of his indulging in double registration or not taking in the continuous voter registration.

“He had his name in the addendum register to have his details captured in the voters registration, a substantial majority of those alleged to have been disenfranchised if not all of them must have been people who may have done multiple registration or those who did not have their names in the electronic register. No evidence has been adduced to warrant the cancellation of the election.”

“The electoral act is very clear and our guidelines are very clear that if on presentation of your voter card and your name is not on the register, you will not be allowed to vote. Our electoral officers were trained to allow those whose names were on the register to vote. I can speak emphatically that Nwoye who alleged that he was not allowed to vote, that his name was on the manual register and since we were not using the addendum register However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected Friday's announcement by INEC to hold supplementary election in Anambra State on Nov. 30th.

“We will not be a party to what is obviously a travesty of election by a self-discredited and conniving electoral umpire,” the party said in a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

It expressed absolute shock and incredulity that INEC could even talk of organizing a supplementary election, despite the weight of credible evidence presented by the party as well as election monitors/observers that what transpired on Nov. 16th was nothing but a sham.

“This announcement has confirmed our worst fears that INEC is working in cahoots with the PDP and the presidency to ensure that no election ever counts in Nigeria.

“The INEC Chairman himself was the first to admit that a senior official of the commission compromised the election in one local government in Anambra. We on our own part were able to establish that materials meant for several LGs that were the strongholds of our candidate were diverted; that out of the about 1.7 million registered voters in Anambra, only a little over 400,000 were accredited to vote; and that the voters' register was apparently tampered with to remove many names and disenfranchise thousands of voters.

"Yet, the same electoral body that admitted that the election was compromised has turned around to validate it by its decision to organize supplementary election instead of cancelling the parody of election and holding a fresh one. This is a sad day indeed,'' APC said.