November 18, 2013 by Emmanuel Obe, Mudiaga Affe and Ozioma Ubabukoh
About
200 women from the 21 local government areas in Anambra State on
Sunday protested the conduct of Saturday’s governorship election
in the state.
They said the election was not credible and called for its cancellation and conduct of a fresh one.
The women, who carried leaves ,
expressed their disappointment with the Chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega.
They rolled repeatedly on the road
leading to the INEC office chanting , “Jega has failed us,’ and ‘He
should resign or be removed.”
A combined team of police officers and soldiers resisted their attempts to gain entry into the INEC premises.
Infuriated , the women, who gathered
at Arroma Junction and marched through the Alex Ekwueme, rained
abuses on the policemen and soldiers.
Spokesperson for the protesters, Mrs.
Angela Akukalia, said many people were disenfranchised as their names
were not found on the voter registers.
She said, “The election materials were not even available in most polling units across the state.
“In areas where they were available, they arrived so late and by then, most people had gone home.
“Even the rescheduled election in
Idemili North was fixed on a Sunday when most people go to church and
would not be around to vote.
“This was a scientific way to rig the election. Jega has failed us. He has shown he is not capable.”
She added that the “election should be
cancelled because it is beyond Idemili North’’ where the rerun poll in
65 polling units held on Sunday.
Before the protest by the women, three
candidates for the election closed ranks to kick against the conduct
of the exercise that their All Progressives Grand Alliance
counterpart, Chief Willie Obiano, was leading in 20 councils as of
Sunday evening.
The candidates – Senator Chris Ngige of
the All Progressive Congress, Tony Nwoye, Peoples Democratic Party; and
Ifeanyi Ubah, Labour Party, at a joint press conference in Awka,
called on INEC to stop further announcement of the results because
of alleged widespread irregularities.
They claimed that the conduct of rerun
election in some polling units in Idemili North Local Government Area
was a waste of time.
“They can do any amount of voting they
like. But subject to consultations with the leadership of our parties,
no result should be announced. A word is enough for the wise,” Ngige,
Nwoye and Ubah said in a five-page statement
