All Progressives Congress (APC): Anambra election: APC slams police for arresting e...

All Progressives Congress (APC): Anambra election: APC slams police for arresting e...: Anambra election: APC slams police for arresting election monitors from Osun, calls for vigilance The All Progressives Congress (APC)...

Anambra election: APC slams police for arresting election monitors from Osun, calls for vigilance

Anambra election: APC slams police for arresting election monitors from Osun, calls for vigilance

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the police of acting out the script of the PDP for Saturday's governorship election in Anambra by arresting election monitors from Osun State and labelling them as thugs.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the report that a 'crack team' of the police in Imo State had arrested 180 'armed hoodlums carrying fake voters cards, official identity cards of INEC and independent Observer identity cards' is nothing but tales by the moonlight.

''Those who were arrested by the increasingly partisan police are election monitors from Osun, who are members of the Justice and Equality Organization, an INEC-accredited election monitoring NGO. With INEC having trained key officials of the accredited election monitoring NGOs, those trained are now training their members in readiness for the election. Those trained by INEC are in Owerri.

''Those whom the police have labelled as thugs are members of the Justice and Equality Organization. They are in Owerri for training ahead of the election. They chose Owerri because of its proximity to Anambra and its affordable hotel costs. None of them is a member of the APC, despite the insinuation by the police, and none is armed, because you don't need guns to monitor elections. Any weapon exhibited by the police must have been procured by them to justify their gaffe.

''The only offence that the arrested election monitors have committed, in the eyes of the police, is that they are from a staunchly APC state with zero tolerance for the do-nothing, bumbling PDP,'' it said.

Meanwhile, APC has called for extra vigilance from all Nigerians in general and the party's members and supporters in particular, in order to thwart any attempt by the police and their collaborators to ruin Saturday's election.

The party said the need for vigilance has been heightened by the fact that key institutions of state that should ensure a level playing ground for all parties in the election appear to have been compromised, going by the blatant partisanship of the police and the seeming inability of INEC to prosecute electoral offenders, including Willie Obiano of APGA, who has been proven to have registered multiple times.

It implored all the APC agents for Saturday's polls to pay particular attention to the accreditation process.

''In line with the INEC Manual for Election Officials, the number of accredited voters must be counted and announced loudly for all to hear. Also, the number of voters in the Register of Voters in each polling unit must be announced loudly. Then the number of voters in the register and the number of accredited voters must be entered in Form EC8A and/or Form EC8A (1) before voting starts.

''None of our agents should sign the result sheet without accurate numbers of voters in the register and the number of accredited voters being duly recorded in the necessary columns in the Forms,'' APC warned.

For the umpteenth time, the party called on INEC to ensure that Saturday's election is free, fair and transparent, and on the security agencies not to allow themselves to be used to hinder the right of the people to elect their own leaders, because the world will be keenly monitoring the election on Saturday.

All Progressives Congress (APC): Anambra poll: APC asks President Jonathan to walk ...

All Progressives Congress (APC): Anambra poll: APC asks President Jonathan to walk ...: Anambra poll: APC asks President Jonathan to walk the talk on free, fair election promise The All Progressives Congress (APC) has aske...

Anambra poll: APC asks President Jonathan to walk the talk on free, fair election promise

Anambra poll: APC asks President Jonathan to walk the talk on free, fair election promise

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to live up to his promise of a free and fair election in Anambra State on Saturday, saying the President must be believable at all times.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said nothing on ground in Anambra so far points to the fact that Saturday's election will be free, fair and transparent, despite the President's promise.

''Rightly or wrongly in our country, institutions of state take a cue from the President's body language. They know that members of the ruling PDP who engaged in electoral malfeasance and brigandage during last month's Delta Central Senatorial election were not punished. They know that security agencies that turned themselves to the armed wing of the PDP were not sanctioned. In this context, therefore, the President's promise of a free and fair election will not mean much to those bent on repeating same in Anambra,'' it said.

APC also said the fact that one of the candidates in Saturday's election, Willie Obiano of APGA, has continued to evade justice despite a glaring electoral offence committed by him, through his
proven multiple registration, does not give anyone much confidence that INEC can indeed be trusted to ensure a level-playing field for all the parties.

''President Jonathan should be careful in staking the credibility of his high office on these elections. His promise of free and fair elections in Ondo did not materialize, as the world knows, and the
unprecedented electoral heist in Delta does not back up his administration's claim that the country's electoral architecture has improved under his watch.

''That is why we say the President must walk the talk. He should know that talk is cheap. If the institutions of state that have any role to play in the election fail to live up to that role, and the ruling
party continues to engage in a flagrant abuse of office by stealing votes in the most blatant of manners, then the President's promise of a free and fair election would have been rubbished,'' the party said.

It said the world will be keenly watching on Saturday to see how INEC, the police and other security agencies carry out their roles, to see how the PDP, which is not even in a pole position going into the
polls, wants to emerge victorious, and to see whether all that matters to the President is a free and fair election - as he has promised - or the rubbishing, at all cost, of the APC.

''The people of Anambra should be allowed to elect a Governor of their own choosing. No one should impose any leader on them. And the way to go is to ensure that every citizen is free to cast his or her vote without harassment and intimidation, and that every vote is counted and made to count. This is not too much to ask for,'' APC said

APC decries 22-hour curfew for Anambra poll, says election is not war

APC decries 22-hour curfew for Anambra poll, says election is not war

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has slammed INEC over its 22-hour, no-movement order (from 12 midnight on Friday, Nov. 15th, to 10 pm on Saturday, Nov. 16th) for the Anambra State governorship poll, wondering why such an extended curfew should be imposed because of an isolated election.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said even during general elections, people are allowed to move around freely from 4 pm on election day.

''Election is not war, but a celebration of democracy. Declaring a 22-hour curfew for an election in only one state raises serious questions: What is INEC hiding? Is the curfew meant to give riggers enough time to write and collate their cooked-up results? Are elections and free movement of people incompatible? Why does INEC need
a 22-hour curfew to conduct a 'peaceful and successful' election in one state? Where in the world is a 22-hour curfew imposed during an election?

''In any case, Anambra does not have the kind of terrain or riverine communities that will justify waiting for hours for election results to be taken from polling units to the collation centre, hence there is no reason to turn Anambra into a ghost state just to hold a governorship election.

''We therefore call on INEC to reconsider this overstretched curfew if it has no underlying motive for declaring it in the first instance. After all, information at our disposal has it that some decent INEC officials have rejected being part of the Anambra election because they do not want to be tainted by the shenanigans of some of their
unscrupulous colleagues who are colluding with do-or-die politicians for 'thirty pieces of silver','' it said.

APC said with the creation of 1,973 extra polling units by INEC, out of the original 4,608 units, the election should even be faster as it will take voters less time to complete the accreditation and voting process.

Meanwhile, the party has warned security agents against harassing and intimidating voters on Saturday, as they did during the infamous Delta Central Senatorial District bye-election last month.

''We have it on good authority that troops, police and State Security Service (SSS) personnel are being mobilized to Anambra from Abuja and neighbouring states ostensibly to provide security during the election. But we know that this is a ploy to actually scare voters away from the polling units and provide cover for ballot box hijackers
and those adept at vote tampering.

''But we will like to remind our security agents that they are first and foremost Nigerians, hence they should always work in the larger interest of the country. They should not turn themselves to the armed wing of the PDP or APGA. They should allow voters to freely and peacefully cast their votes without harassment or intimidation on
Saturday,'' it said.

All Progressives Congress (APC): APC alerts Anambra voters to creation of 1,973 ext...

All Progressives Congress (APC): APC alerts Anambra voters to creation of 1,973 ext...: APC alerts Anambra voters to creation of 1,973 extra polling units for Gov. poll The All Progressives Congress (APC) has alerted vot...

APC alerts Anambra voters to creation of 1,973 extra polling units for Gov. poll

APC alerts Anambra voters to creation of 1,973 extra polling units for Gov. poll

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has alerted voters in Anambra to the creation of 1,973 extra polling units out of the existing 4,608 polling units in the state, bringing the total voting points to 6,581.

In a statement issued in Benin on Tuesday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the alert becomes necessary because INEC has not educated voters on the extra polling units, a few days before the election - a development that could either disenfranchise many voters or play into the hands of those who are already perfecting their rigging strategies.

It said the need to alert voters is further heightened by the fact that the extra polling units together account for over 800,000 votes.

''INEC, apparently in other to facilitate the accreditation and voting process on Saturday, has created these extra polling units from those that have in excess of 500 voters. This action in itself may not have diabolical undertone, especially because the extra polling units are expected to be located within the same place as the original ones and presided over by Assistant Presiding Officers.

''But in a situation where voters are not aware of this development, there is the risk that some dirty INEC officials could collude with unscrupulous and desperate politicians to move these extra units away from the location of the original ones for secret thumb-printing, thus disenfranchising over 800,000 voters and paving the way for the appropriation of such votes by vote thieves,'' APC said.

The party therefore implored INEC to urgently give the creation of the extra polling units the necessary publicity; alert voters to the fact that the extra units will be at the same location as the original ones; ensure the deployment of adequate officials to man the extra units on Saturday and also make sure that enough voting materials are provided for them.

''INEC must be proactive, because lack of adequate personnel and materials for these extra polling units will create chaos on voting day. Therefore, adequate personnel must be trained to man the extra units, while voters must be educated so that they won't be looking for where to vote on Saturday.

''They must be told that the extra voting unit created from any polling unit will not be taken outside the location of the original one. If the location is different, then something is wrong,'' it said.

APC called on its members and supporters in the state to spread the news on the creation of the extra polling units, as well as the fact that the extra units are located within the same premises as the original ones.

''Every vote must count on Saturday, and every voter must be allowed to exercise his or her franchise. That is why we call on INEC to do everything humanly possible to ensure that no voter is disenfranchised. We also call on all voters, especially our members and supporters, to defend their votes,'' the party said.