Saturday, November 30, 2013

USA Africa Dialogue Series - Obiano declared winner of Anambra governorship election



My People:

The new votes are in:


S/N

CANDIDATE

  OLD RESULT

(November 16)

 NEW RESULT

(November 30)

 DIFFERENCE

1

Obiano

174,710

180,178

5,468

2

Nwoye

94,945

97,700

2,755

3

Ngige

92,300

95,963

3,663

4

Ubah

37,446

37,495

49

 

TOTALS

399,401

411,336

11,935

 

No. of Registered Voters for Election

1,770,125

1,770,125

113,113

 

% of Total for Top Four

Candidates relative to Registered

Voters

22.6%

23.2%

10.6%


In short, compared to the November 16 poll - which in itself was marred by low voter participation - proportionately more than half of the electorate stayed away in the November 30 poll.

There is a message there somewhere...

And there you have it.


Bolaji Aluko

_________________________


PUNCH


Obiano wins Anambra governorship election

DECEMBER 1, 2013 BY EMMANUEL OBE 

The candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Mr. Willie Obiano, has been declared the winner in the Anambra State governorship election.

Obiano scored 180,178 to beat the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Mr. Tony Nwoye, to the second position with 97,700 votes and Senator Chris Ngige of the All Progressives Congress,  who came third with 95,963.

The Labour Party candidate, Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah, came fourth with 37,495.

The formal declaration was made by the Chief Returning Officer, Prof. James Epoke, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar around 1 am on Sunday.

The declaration of the winner brought to an end a long-running and controversial process of electing a new governor for Anambra State.

The entire process of electing the new governor was dogged by controversy as three of the major political parties that fielded candidates called for its cancellation and vowed to boycott the supplementary election.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, who admitted the errors committed in the election, apologised to the nation but said the errors were not substantial enough to warrant the cancellation of the entire exercise.

The supplementary election was eventually held on Saturday but was characterised by low turnout. The Agbaja Polling Unit 22 in Abatete, Idemili North Local Government Area, which has a voting population of 739, for instance, had only 24 candidates accredited and 20 of them voting in the supplementary election.

The main election, which held on November 16, could not be concluded on the same day and INEC announced that election in 65 polling units in Obosi ward in Idemili North Local Government Area would be repeated.

The Chief Returning Officer said the voting population in the areas where election did not take place was large enough to make the second or third person defeat the leading candidate. He, therefore, declared the election inconclusive.

Following the development, INEC  declared  that supplementary election would in 210 polling units, where 113,113 voters could not vote on November 16. The areas affected  cut across 15 local government areas and most of them (160)were in Idemili North.

Epoke said the Electoral Act required that for a winner to be declared in an election, the difference in the total voting population of the areas where election was cancelled should be less than the difference between the votes scored by the candidate with the highest votes and the votes of the candidate with the second highest votes.

The returning officer had reported that the total voting population in the areas where election was cancelled was 113,113, which was higher than the 79,754 difference between the leading candidate's votes and the second highest candidate's votes, saying the commission had no choice but to declare the election inconclusive.

"The rule guiding this election is that for a winner to emerge, he must have majority of votes cast and the required spread of 25 per cent of votes in two thirds of the local government areas.

"We observed that due to many reasons, there were a lot of cancelled votes that made it difficult for a winner to emerge," Epoke said.

He said the winner of the election would be declared only after election has been conducted in areas where the election was cancelled.

In declaring Obiano winner, Epoke said the APGA candidate did not only win the majority of the votes cast, but also fulfilled the requirement that the winner should score 25 per cent of the total votes cast in two thirds of the local governments in the state, in Anambra's case 14 local government areas.

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission Resident Commissioner in Rivers State, Mr Aniedi Ikoiwak, has commended the people of Anambra for coming out to vote in Saturday's supplementary governorship election.

The electoral commissioner, who supervised the election in Onitsha South and Onitsha North council areas, spoke at Okija hall, where voting took place in four polling units.

"The important thing here is that for so many places where I have visited, the party agents were  there, especially those of the major parties.

"It is a clear indication that there had not been any boycott of the election by any of the parties.

"The people were interested in completing this exercise so that at the end of the day, their governor would be announced to them,'' he said.

Ikoiwak said NEC directed its poll officers to display the Form 60E on the day of the exercise, which would show that the election had been completed peacefully.

"You cannot display that form if you do not have a conducive environment.

"And that form would display the result in each unit for members of the public to copy and know what happened in the unit,'' he said.

______________________________________________________________

TRIBUNE

Obiano is Anambra's new gov •INEC declares APGA candidate winner •PDP, APC, LP boycott supplementary election

AMID voter apathy and protests that greeted the November 16 governorship election and the supplementary election in Anambra State,  the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr Willie Obiano, was early this morning declared winner.

The agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Labour Party (LP) governorship candidates in the Anambra State governorship election were conspicuously absent at the supplementary election held in 209 polling units across 16 local  government areas, yesterday.

This is just as the poll was greeted by poor voter turnout in most areas visited by Sunday Tribune. 

In most areas where the elections took place, low voters turnout was apparent though electoral materials from the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC) arrived relatively early unlike what obtained last Saturday, whereby late arrival of material threatened the polls in some polling units.

However, the trio of Senator Chris Ngige of the APC; Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah of the Labour Party and Comrade Tony Nwoye of the PDP have described the low turnout as a justification of their calls for the cancellation of the election.

Though the three parties had stated that they would not participate in the election, some of their members were seen around polling units. At the Polling Unit 016, Igweamaka Primary School, Aguluzoigbo, members of the APC including the chairman of the party in the local government, who refused to disclose his name, said that they were there to monitor the process not to participate while at the Polling Unit 006 and 007, Chukwurah Primary School, Abatete, agents of the PDP and the LP were seen participating in the election.

In Idemili North Local Government Area, which has the highest number of registered voters, turnout at many polling units reflected that only 11 to 17 voters had showed up to vote.

Similarly, in one of the polling units at Oyi Local Government, Sunday Tribune gathered that nine voters showed up to vote out of about 3,000 registered voters, with people in Onitsha North and Onitsha South council areas people opening their shops and going about their respective businesses.

Reacting to the poor turnout Senator Ngige told reporters that it was an indication that the  electorate has lost hope in the electoral process, adding that the electorate couldn't have turned up to vote in view of the charade of November 16, 2013.  

In the same vein, Media Aide to Dr. Ubah, Mr. Afam Ilouno told newsmen that "you do not need anything more to convince INEC and Nigerians that Anambra people have been raped. They shown that they have no confidence in what is going on and it is expected that the electoral commission should learn a lesson by starting all over again."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

VANGUARD

Anambra Governorship Election: Obiano declared winner

on December 01, 2013

 By Vincent Ujumadu, Tony Edike and Enyim Enyim

The All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Willie Obiano, has been declared winner of the governorship election in Anambra State.

The returning officer,  Prof James Epoke said Obiano satisfied all the requirements of the law "and is hereby declared winner. "

The result showed APGA polled 180,178 votes, PDP polled 97,700 votes; APC got 95,963 votes, while LP had 37495 votes.

Before yesterday's supplementary election conducted in 210 polling units in 16 local councils across the state where the exercise was cancelled during the November 16 exercise, Obiano was already coasting home to victory, having scored the highest number of votes and securing 25 per cent in 18 of the 21 local government areas of the state.

The 16 local government areas where INEC conducted the supplementary election are Aguata, Awka North, Awka South, Anambra East, Anambra West, Ayamelum, Anaocha, Ekwusigo, Idemili North and Idemili South. Others are Ihiala, Nnewi South, Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Orumba North and Oyi.

Residents flout restriction order

 Though there was restriction of movement in the affected areas, some people were still doing their normal businesses and traffic was light on the roads in all the areas.

Soldiers were stationed along all the roads leading to Idemili North local government area and Onitsha South local government area, which had the highest number of polling units of 160 and 17 respectively where the supplementary election took place.

APC, LP agents take part

Though the All Progressive Congress, APC, the Labour Party, LP, and the campaign organization of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Comrade Tony Nwoye, said they would not participate in the exercise, their agents were seen in many polling units. However, while APGA and PDP agents wore tags, those who claimed to be APC agents did not wear their tags. At Abatete in Idemili north, agents of the PDP and LP were at the polling units.

Voters' apathy

In all the polling units where the supplementary polls took place yesterday, there was very low turnout of voters and heavy presence of security operatives.

In most polling units visited by Sunday Vanguard, electoral officials and sensitive electoral materials arrived early. But, despite the early arrival of these materials, the number of eligible voters, who came out for the accreditation exercise, was very low compared to the turn-out during the November 16 and 17 elections.

Early results

At Zik Avenue, Onitsha polling units 8, 9 and 10, APGA scored 18 votes, APC – 8, while PDP polled 6. At polling unit 006, APC scored 9, APGA got 26, while PDP scored 2.

REC commends Anambra voters, says there's no boycott

Despite the low turn out, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers, Mr. Aniedi Ikoiwak, who supervised the election in Onitsha South and Onitsha North council areas, commended the people of Anambra for coming out to vote yesterday's supplementary governorship election.

Ikoiwak spoke at Okija Hall where voting took place in four polling units.

APC out to cause mischief – PDP chairman

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Anambra State, Prince Ken Emeakayi, has accused the APC of causing mischief and deceiving Nigerians.

Emeakayi spoke with journalists at Akpkogwe polling booth Ogidi ward 1 where he had gone to observe the supplementary election.

He said that despite APC's call on voters to boycott the election, the party has agents in all the polling units.

INEC ignores Ubah's case

Meanwhile, the supplementary poll held, yesterday, in apparent disregard of a case by the LP candidate in the November 16 election, Dr Ifeanyi Ubah, seeking to stop it.

A letter by Ubah's lawyers, Olagoke Fakunle, SAN, and Co, to INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, dated  November 29, 2013, notified  INEC about the case.

"You would have noticed that amongst the processes is a Motion on Notice for interlocutory in juntion restraining you from conducting any further election in Anambra State, with regard to the office of the Governor of the State, until the court has had an opportunity to review the legality of your pre-election processes towards that election", the letter said.

"It was for the reason of the urgency and importance of  this action that the Federal High Court, on 28th November 2013, made an order to abridge the time within which you and other Defendants may file your responses to both the application for injunction and the originating summons. The court also granted accelerated hearing of the matter by adjourning the hearing to 9th December, 2013.

"We therefore hereby demand that you postpone the proposed supplementary election for the Governor of Anambra state to avoid a situation whereby you would have foisted a fait accompli on the court and the court in response will therefore be constrained to void everything you have done including the outcome of the proposed supplementary election, with attendant waste of national resources.

"The appropriate thing for you to do at this stage, therefore, is to enter appearance and file your responses to the processes you have been served with and await the court's determination of the illegality or otherwise of the pre-election process leading to your decision to hold a supplementary election for the Governor of Anambra State, before you continue with any further plans for the conduct of any election of the Governor of Anambra State." 


__________________________________________________________________________________

THE NATION


Anambra supplementary election flops

Posted by: Nwanosike Onu Awka 


•As apathy mars exercise

•APGA's Obiano in the lead

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday went ahead with the controversial supplementary governorship election in 16 local government areas of Anambra State but had to contend with mostly empty polling booths.

It was not only the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) that boycotted the election as their candidates had warned, a majority of the voters also did.

However, INEC procee-ded with the collation of the results last night at the close of voting.

Chief Willie Obiano of APGA who had the entire electoral field to himself was at press time in the lead, according to the Returning Officer, Professor James Epoke, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar.

Earlier in the day,the restriction of vehicular and human movement ordered by the law enforcement agencies during the election went largely ignored.

People went about their business as they would on any other day. Markets, shops and stores were opened all day.

Across Idemili North and South Local Government areas in particular, strongholds of the APC candidate, Dr. Chris Ngige, it was business as usual for the residents.

Youths spent much of the time playing street football.

Only a few people turned up to vote in the election with officials and agents of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), having the field to themselves especially in such areas Esther Obiakor Estate in Agu-Awka, Awka South Council Area and Agbaja 1 in Abatete, Idemili North Council Area.

The state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Ken Emeakayi, acknowledged the poor turnout of voters and wondered why INEC allowed the APGA candidate, Chief Willie Obiano, to participate in the election despite the allegation that he registered more than once in violation of the Electoral Act.

He told reporters that PDP has already gone to court to challenge that action.

The Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Aniedi Ikoiwak, who supervised Onitsha North and South during yesterday's election, decried the low turnout of voters.

But Emeka Iloduba, who was at Nkpor Uno Isingwu, told The Nation that the apathy was programmed by the Federal Government and INEC to make it easy for the APGA candidate.

At Ugbenu in Awka North Council Area, accreditation of the voters had not started as at 9.10am as INEC materials had not arrived despite sharing the items Friday evening.

The 16 local government areas where INEC had scheduled supplementary elections in some units were Aguata, Awka North, Awka South, Anambra East, Anambra West, Ayamelum, Anaocha, Ekwusigo, Idemili North, Idemili South.

Others were Ihiala, Nnewi South, Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Orumba North and Oyi.

Anambra State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Edozie Aroh who was seen with policemen told The Nation that everything was going on well.

Accreditation began at 8am in some of the centres, while voting started between 12 and 2.15pm.

The election was originally scheduled for November 16 but ended up being characterised by massive disorganisation and fraud.

The APC, PDP and LP candidates protested the conduct of the election and called for its cancellation.

Although INEC admitted irregularities, it said they were not enough to cause the cancellation of the election.

It said the best it could do was to conduct a supplementary election which took place yesterday.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) voters apathy trailed the supplementary election in some parts of Onitsha metropolis.

A NAN correspondent who monitored the exercise in polling units in Ward 6 in Onitsha South Local Government Area and a polling unit in Ward 9 in Onitsha North, reported that INEC was fully prepared for the exercise.

It was gathered that election materials and INEC personnel arrived at the various polling booths as early as 7 a.m. while sensitive electoral materials were also available.

However, the electorate were not interested as most residents had decided to go to their daily businesses.

There was a large number of security personnel at each polling booth, which, in some cases, out-numbered the voters who turned out.

Mr. Chidi Okereke, a resident of Zik Avenue in Fegge, said that the materials, INEC main and ad hoc staff, as well as security agencies were in place as early as 7a.m.

Okereke, who is a member of Fegge Community Police Public Relations Committee, said that the mass movement of residents out of Fegge hindered the conduct of the polls.

"Although you cannot blame the people because having sacrificed some days for the election, they did not see reasons for the cancellation (postponement) of the result in the first place," he said.

"This is one of the areas in Anambra State where people turn-out en mass to vote during election but this today's development is unlike this area," Nwokabia, who is a Chief Orientation and Mobilisation Officer in NOA, said.

He said that the number of security-men on ground was okay,.

"Honestly, there is no amount of money spent on security that is ever a waste."

Prince Edward Okosi, Chairman of Onitsha North Caretaker Committee, told NAN at the polling booth 4 in Ward 9, that he believed that more people would see the need to turn out for the election.

"The leaders of thought in the neighbourhood had gone ahead to create the awareness about the exercise among their people," Okosi said.

The restriction of movement was not effective in Idemili North Local Government area as residents operated their business activities.

It was observed that most of the markets opened for business while vehicular movements were visible even with the presence of security personnel on the roads.

An INEC official, Mr Edo Kelo, said there was poor turnout in the polling units, but he still expected more people before the close of accreditation at 12.00 p.m.

At Nkpor Uno in Isingwu village, with 3 polling units of 983 registered voters, only 30 were accredited.

Mr Emeka Ilodiuba, a voter, expressed dissatisfaction at the low turnout of voters, stressing that the withdrawal of some candidates might have caused the situation.

Mrs Victoria Ibenegbu, another voter, expressed happiness about the peaceful conduct of the exercise.

The polls are being conducted in 210 polling units in 16 out of 21 local government areas of the state.

The 16 local government areas where INEC is conducting the supplementary election are Aguata, Awka North, Awka South, Anambra East, Anambra West, Ayamelum, Anaocha, Ekwusigo, Idemili North and Idemili South.

Others are Ihiala, Nnewi South, Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Orumba North and Oyi.

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