The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says
its monitors mobilised for the June 26 governorship primary of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra state did not witness voting at the
collation centres.
INEC noted that until its monitors were recalled at 5:30pm,
they didn’t witness anything on accreditation, voting, counting of votes,
collation, or declaration of results.
The commission, in its report on the APC primary, noted that
no resolutions were made at the party’s voting centres because of the
“unavailability of the election officials between 8am to 5:30pm” on Saturday.
INEC said there was a “large turnout” of APC members at
voting centres across the state, but they waited in vain because the party’s
election officials and materials did not show up.
“Electoral officials and materials were not available at the
voting centres for the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primaries
scheduled for 26 June 2021 in Anambra State up to 5:30pm when INEC monitors
withdrew from the field,” the commission said in the report seen by TheCable.
“Contrary to the provisions of Section 18 of the guidelines
for the conduct of direct primaries issued by All Progressives Congress (APC),
accreditation of party members did not take place in any of the voting centres
in Anambra State up to the time INEC monitors were recalled by 5:30pm.
“The commission’s monitors did not witness accreditation,
voting, counting of votes, collation or declaration of result at the voting
centres and collation centres up till 5:30pm when the monitors were recalled.
“Across the state, there was a large turn-out of party
members at the voting centres for the APC governorship primaries who waited in
vain for the arrival of party election officials and materials at the time the
commission’s monitors were recalled.”
The Anambra APC primary, ahead of the November 6
governorship election, has witnessed a series of controversies, as some party
members have alleged that the primary did not hold.
On Sunday, Dapo Abiodun, governor of Ogun state and chairman
of the APC primary election committee, announced that Andy Uba, a former
senator, won the election.
Abiodun had said Uba scored 230,201 votes, beating 13 other
aspirants to emerge as the APC flagbearer.
But earlier on Saturday, 11 of the 14 governorship aspirants
of APC in Anambra had claimed that the June 26 primary in the state did not
hold.
On Monday, Chris Ngige, minister of labour and productivity,
also alleged that the outcome of the primary announced by the Ogun governor was
a “total fabrication”.
Meanwhile, INEC has given a deadline of July 1 for political
parties to conclude primaries.
As such, the commission’s report may point to a possible
disqualification for the APC, if the electoral body rejects the result
announced by Abiodun.
Also, section 87(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended)
states that political parties must conduct primaries for aspirants to all
elective positions, while section 87(9) states that any political party that
fails to comply with the provision of the act in the conduct of its primaries
shall not be included in the election.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com