2017 Anambra State Gubernatorial Election Outcome As A Reflection Of The Will Of The People

The Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM) felicitates and aligns itself with the position of adherents and advocates of democratic tenets in commending and congratulating the good people of Anambra state for their peaceful and orderly conduct before, during and after the 2017 gubernatorial election.

The Committee for Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM) deployed personnel across the 21 local government council areas of Anambra state, received and monitored reports from other field observers, media as well as the electorate in arriving at it's appraisal of the conduct of the Anambra state gubernatorial election of Saturday 18th November, 2017.

We commend the patriotism and perseverance of the people of Anambra state in trooping out early to the polls on election day to exercise their franchise despite the initial hiccups of delay in the commencement of the process due to the logistics challenges confronting INEC.

We frown at the delay in the commencement of the election process by INEC as our observation generally confirmed that except in some few polling units, majority of the polling stations across the 21 local government council areas of the state suffered from delays which led to commencement of the election process from about 9am - 10am which was about an hour or two beyond starting time.

We also observed that the 2017 Anambra state gubernatorial election also had it's fair share of malfunctioning E - card reader and frowns at the use of manual accreditation without the strict use of the incident forms which must have compromised the process and led to the over voting in some polling units which were eventually cancelled by INEC.

Despite the observed hiccups, we commend and congratulate INEC for a job weldone, but must admonish the electoral umpire to work assidously to improve on it's recurring logistics and E-card reader challenges because it has the possibility of providing a window for electoral criminals to compromise the process and inadvertently taint our democratic system.

We commend the political parties, their candidates and agents for their peaceful conduct on election day and call on whoever is aggrieved with the outcome of the election, to take the civilized and democratic option of approaching the courts for redress.

We must commend the security agencies for their timely deployment, civility, impartiality and professionalism at polling stations and other points of restricting movements of unauthorized persons during the election.

We commend the election observers, both local and international for their professionalism and unbiasedness in the discharge of their responsibility which has gone a long way to deepen democracy and enhance the credibility of the process.

We also appreciate the media for its excellent professional and impartial coverage and reportage of the election which contributed in no small measure to enhancing the image of our democracy.

Generally, despite the avoidable challenges noted which needs to be worked upon by the institutions concerned in order to minimize the degree and avert a reoccurrence, we at CPPM commend most sincerely, all the stakeholders for their patriotism and diligence in adding value to our democracy which has manifested in the will of the people triumphing in the outcome of the 2017 Anambra state gubernatorial election.

God bless Anambra State.

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.