by Ifeanyi Afuba

The opposition politicians and their supporters have denounced the exercise as seriously flawed and demanded a rerun. But election monitors who observed the conduct of the polls upheld it as substantially free and fair.

Anambra’s opposition politicians are working very hard to obscure the facts on the November 16, 2013 governorship election in the state tentatively declared inconclusive by the INEC. In tandem with sections of the political media and a circle of perpetual critics, they have unleashed a barrage of propaganda on the conduct of the said poll. They have not taken anyone by surprise. Since 1999, career politicians have ensured that electoral contests in Anambra State were not devoid of drama.

Was the polling of November 16 a discredited or credible election? Was the exercise attended by minor or major flaws? Did the election witness acts of violence? Were there incidents of unlawful and forcible exclusion of candidates and voters from participating in the electoral process? On the balance, were reported cases of irregularities in the conduct of the election (on November 16, 2013) insignificant to the outcome, that is, the declared results?

The opposition politicians and their supporters have denounced the exercise as seriously flawed and demanded a rerun. But election monitors who observed the conduct of the polls upheld it as substantially free and fair. According to the coalition of Independent National Electoral Commission accredited observers, ‘the minor hitches are not enough to undermine the collective free will of expression of Anambrarians at the polls.’

Who do you believe? It is important to keep in view that calls for cancellation of the poll were not made until the results began to point to a pattern of victory as well as imminent defeat. The protests then had nothing to do with a concern for free and fair election but in furtherance of personal quest for victory. Given the high stakes involved in this contest and the length the INEC and the security agencies went to provide a level playing ground for the parties, it is inconceivable that irregularities could have taken place on a scale to justify a rerun of the poll.  Between the partisan complaints of candidates worsted in the election and the detached testimony of neutral observers, the people of Anambra State know what is at stake for them in the governorship contest.

Allegations of irregularities must be carefully scrutinized to separate genuine complaints from sheer propaganda. The protests over alleged disenfranchisement of voters who could not find their names on the voters register arouse much curiosity.  The case of the PDP governorship candidate, Tony Nwoye, is of course, the most conspicuous. The complaint of missing names from the register is suspect considering that about five weeks to the election, the INEC displayed the voters list at polling units and further gave soft copies to the political parties and other stakeholders to study and make observations.  Did the PDP candidate bother to review the register before the election? If he did and found his name omitted did he make a complaint to the electoral body? If his particulars were contained in the register before the election but missing on election day, has he come forward with the supporting data to establish his case? It would be mere propaganda for a political party to say that voters were disenfranchised in its strongholds when it failed to make the necessary feedback on the voters register made available to it at least one month to the poll.

In the circumstance, a more probable explanation of the minimal instances of missing names from the register would be cases of double voter registration. The electoral body has periodically emphasized that its system automatically nullifies duplication of voter registration particulars. In the case of the PDP candidate, the onus is on him to show evidence of his registration and clear all doubts surrounding his claims and those of the other opposition parties.

Amidst the din of the opposition’s protests, a very significant development seems to have gone unnoticed. The APGA candidate, Willie Obiano’s campaign was trailed by choreographed allegations of his double registration. The plot reached a climax with the rumour of his purported disqualification on the eve of the poll. But before our very eyes, Obiano cast his vote on election day. His name was on the register. But it would not have been there if he had engaged in double registration. The computer would have detected his duplicated particulars and voided them. But will the masters of propaganda care?

Perhaps, even more curious in the Anambra electoral drama is the sentimental calls for cancellation of the partial results in which the APGA candidate, Willie Obiano, has taken a comfortable lead. The proponents of this proposal are familiar with our electoral laws and judicial precedents. As political practitioners, they know that once results have been declared for an election by the duly authorized officer, the INEC lacks the power to revisit them. Only the election tribunal can review and possibly upturn the result. Why then would some opposition parties in the Anambra governorship election embark on this apparent futile bid? If Ifeanyi Ubah, a greenhorn in politics, is not aware of this reality, Dr Chris Ngige, who has contested five elections from 2003 to date, must know that it is a mission impossible to demand the cancellation of elections the results were certified and released. The difference between the present scenario and the 2011 Anambra Central Senatorial election was that in the latter, victory was given to Ngige by a Retuning Officer already disengaged with a replacement by the INEC. Perhaps, it was in full realization of the cold facts that Ngige reportedly announced a withdrawal from the supplementary election declared by the INEC in some polling units.

The plausible interpretation that can be given to the continued demand in some quarters for a cancellation of released results is that this is a strategy to try to bamboozle INEC. Faced with sustained pressure and propaganda, INEC may yet buckle. The subtle attempt to present INEC as contemptuous of public opinion will not wash. This is simply a gambit by the opposition to win undeserved concessions. This is a ploy the electoral body must guard against.

The wide spread of Obiano’s lead gives a sense of Ndi Anambra’s rating of the opposition parties. The opposition’s activism consists largely of propaganda and drama. It is interesting that for all their rhetoric, we have not witnessed popular protests in support of their demands.

 

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