The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed confidence that the November 6 Anambra State governorship election will be successfully conducted as scheduled.

It dispelled fears over the security situation in the state, saying that things are not yet out of control.

Speaking at a Dialogue Session on the upcoming Anambra State governorship election organised by the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room in Abuja on Friday, the INEC Anambra Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Nwachukwu Orji, said there is nothing in the INEC’s timelines for the Anambra State governorship election that it is running behind schedule.

He said: “If the election is to come up next week, we will be able to deliver. We have all the materials we need and we are working within the time schedule. We hope that the environment will be conducive to deliver on the election.”

Also speaking on the fears over the level of insecurity in Anambra State and concern that it might derail the election, the REC said the security situation is not out of control as is being painted.

“I have confidence in the election security. We have been meeting frequently at the level of the Inter Agency Commitee on election security and we have assurances from the security agencies that the situation in Anambra State is not out of control. The situation is under control and political parties and politicians have interest in having the elections conducted,” he said.

Speaking on the preparations for the governorship election, Orji said that

regarding the the controversy over the location of sensitive materials for the election, the issue was misunderstood, adding that what some people thought were sensitive election materials stored at the INEC office in Owerri, Imo State is not the case.

He said that because the INEC office in Anambra housing its store was damaged during recent attacks, the commission had to make alternative arrangement for storing of the items.

“People complaining are not getting it right, what we are keeping in our Owerri store are non-sensitive materials and not the sensitive materials. These are facemasks, hand sanitizer, papers, ink, pen, cellotape and other writing materials. We decided that since our contractors are not likely to complete the repair work at the damaged facility in Awka, we should make use of the store in Owerri to start distributing the non-sensitive materials,” he said.

The REC said that the process of managing sensitive materials is so clear and it is the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that handles its storage.

“What we know is that we have timelines which we have given to them and work according to the timeline. Basically, the way it works is that Monday before the election, we expect that this material would have been at the closest CBN branch which in this case is the Awka branch.

“Normally, we go to their vault with a list of what we want and confirm that what is there is what we need. Usually on the Thursday before the election, we invite stakeholders to come and see the materials,” he said.

Earlier, the Convener of the Civil Society Situation Room, Ms. Eneh Obi, had described the violence and insecurity building up ahead of the Anambra State governorship election as worrisome.

She appealed to those fueling the violence to retrace their steps, adding that it will be counter productive if the violence is allowed to derail the conduct of a credible election and in the process enthrone bad governance which is being agitating against.

“We had a meeting two days ago in Anambra State and a number of citizens are visibly scared of coming out for that election and that is why we are calling on the civil society in the state and the citizens to prevail on those formenting trouble to stop. We are calling on religious leaders and traditional rulers to rise up and mobilise the people to understand the need to ensure a peaceful and secured electoral process,” she said.
Source: This Day