Anambra poll: APC insists election fraught with irregularities

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has picked out grey areas in Saturday’s governorship election, insisting that the party was short-changed in many areas.

Basil Ejidike, state chairman of the party who addressed a press conference in Awka on Monday said: “There have been pieces of information ascribed to us that are not true. “One of them was the one that said APC has denounced the exercise and called for cancellation, and the other was that we said we were heading to court to challenge the election.

Ejidike, however, said that even though the statements credited to the party were false, the election of Saturday was marred by irregularities, including the disenfranchisement of their supporters through the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

“We cannot start going to court in an election that has not been concluded. We cannot call for the cancellation of an election that was still ongoing. Our party never made the statement, and never said those things, so we urge you to discard them.

“What happened on the election day with the BVAS was a surprise to us. We are surprised to discover they did not function appropriately. Voters turned out but ended up not voting.

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“In my polling unit, it took me 15 minutes to be cleared to cast one vote. I visited Onitsha South not less than eight times to complain about the BVAS, and I hope that INEC will improve on it.

“In Orumba North the returning officer claimed there was no election, but the electoral officer claimed there was. A committee was set up, but there is no way you can crosscheck the result without checking the BVAS. The returning officer agreed and collated the result and you agree with me the situation is not the best.

“They cancelled 10,000 votes for APC in Abatete and went ahead to announce the result. In Uke, elections held in only six out of 17 polling units. Many other units in Idemili had no election and INEC still collated and announced results.

“The essence of this is to draw all these grey areas to INEC, so that justice may be seen to have been done. We have not in any way called for cancellation, but adequate attention should be given to these areas to help the people exercise their franchise,” he said.