INEC set for rerun election in Anambra

INEC in Anambra says it is set for the Feb. 3 rerun elections in Nnewi North/Nnewi South/Ekwusigo and Orumba North and Orumba South Federal Constituencies in Anambra.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Dr Elizabeth Agwu, said this on Wednesday during a media interaction at the INEC headquarters, Awka.

Agwu said the rerun election was in response to a court order which directed that election in the 21 polling units in the two federal constituencies be cancelled and a rerun held.

She said that the election would be held in five polling units, four wards in Nnewi North and 16 polling units and one ward in Orumba North.

Agwu further said that INEC in Anambra had made adequate preparations to ensure that the election was credible, free and fair.

She reminded the concerned LGAs that there was no winner yet until after the rerun elections for the candidates in the federal constituencies.

The REC called on the 97,438 registered voters in the affected LGAs, to come out en masse to cast their votes.

She also advised the 161,914 registered voters in Orumba North and South to come out on Feb. 3 to cast their votes for their preferred candidates.

Agwu assured voters of tight security before, during and after the election.

She said that the commission had been engaging security agencies in tight meetings to provide adequate security for the electorate willing to exercise their franchise.

She called on youths of the affected areas not to allow themselves to be used as thugs during the election as anyone caught would be legally handled.

The REC also advised the candidates to carry out issue-based campaign to convince their people to vote for them and not to engage in election rigging or vote buying as INEC would not allow such to thrive.

She commended the media in Anambra for factual reportage and for always confirming issues before publishing, urging them to do a good job during the election.

The Acting Administrative Secretary, INEC Awka, Mr Chukwuemeka Nnaji assured that the commission was committed to conducting credible election.

Nnaji said that the commission kept improving its services as it had learnt from past mistakes from elections held in the country.

“We will not relent in learning from the past experience to fine tune future elections in the country as all elections mean same to the commission,” he said.

Responding on behalf of the journalists, Mrs Ngozi Obileri, Vice- Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Anambra Council, asked that all necessary cooperation for seamless coverage of the election be given to the journalists.

She assured the commission that the media practitioners would not relent to offer timely, factual and accurate information to the public at all times.