The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been urged to do everything in its power to ensure the credibility of the forthcoming governorship elections in Anambra state, slated for November 6, 2021.
The call was made, Sunday, by a frontline civil society organisation, the Save Nigeria Movement (SNM), against the background of smouldering concerns from the political space and security uprising in the South-east state ahead of the epic contest.
Addressing journalists in a joint press conference in Abuja, Sunday afternoon, convener of the group, Rev Solomon Semaka in direct reference to conventional and online news reports of alleged $4 million bribe by a notable politician in the state with the view to compromising the outcome of the poll, warned that Nigerians would not take anything that would jeopardize the result of the election.
Rev Semaka urged relevant security agencies to conduct thorough investigation over the allegations and to bring propagators to book.
He called on all political parties fielding candidates in the election to rise up to the occasion by watching out for any underhand initiative that would cast darkness on the outcome of the election, advising that the electorate should be allowed to make their informed choices from the horde of contenders vying for the plum governorship position.
According to him, “Given the position of Anambra in the scheme of politics in the South East and Nigeria as a whole, we expect nothing less than an election in which all will be satisfied in fairness, openness and credibility. Any attempt at inducing staffers of INEC or political thugs will definitely en mess the results and cast a spell on 2023.
“We expect nothing less than independence and neutrality from the electoral umpire. This is the only way the Professor Mahmood Yakubu-led INEC can justify its name.”
The CSO threatened to mobilise Nigerians to protest any clandestine move to alter the will of the Anambra people, asking the electorate to stand firmly for democracy and good governance in their choices, come November 6.
