Oni sues for peace in Anambra governorship election

The Deputy National Chairman (South) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Segun Oni has charged all stakeholders in the forthcoming November 18 governorship election in Anambra State to allow peace to reign during the conduct of the exercise.

In a statement issued yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, Oni, a former governor of Ekiti State, also dismissed speculations that the Anambra election would be marred by violence.

He admonished the electorate to go about their civic responsibility of voting for the candidates of their choice without any fear as security of lives and property as well as that of the election process itself will be fully guaranteed.

Reminding the electorate of their constitutional right to choose their leaders which cannot be abridged or curtailed under any guise by anyone or group, Oni assured them that security agencies will not hesitate to nip any attempt to bring this threat to reality in the bud.

Oni, who headed the six-man committee that coordinated the APC’s Situation Room during the November 26, 2016 governorship election in Ondo State, said the sterling performances of the party in other states coupled with President Muhamadu Buhari’s deep commitment to the development of the Southeast, have endeared the party to the people in the region.

He said, “There are clear signals that our party will carry the day in the governorship poll and produce the next governor in Anambra State.”

Meanwhile, the Youths Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA), has disclosed that it would deploy not less than 527 observers to monitor the Anambra election.

Addressing newsmen in Awka yesterday, YIAGA Programme Director, Cynthia Mbamalu said 500 observers would be stationed in 250 polling units while 27 mobile observers would serve at the 21 local government headquarters in the state.

According to her, “The project is aimed at promoting free, fair, peaceful and legitimate election in Anambra and it is in accordance with the international standards as well as the Electoral laws of Nigeria.”

Mbamalu explained that the group would adopt the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) methodology in the Anambra poll, which she said would involve the use of established statistical principles and information technology to provide timely and accurate information on the conduct of election and counting of votes.

While she said the duty of YIAGA does not cover announcement of election results, which according to her is the sole responsibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), she called for a cordial working partnership with the media to educate the public on their activities during the election.

The training manager of the group, Paul James, said the PVT was used during the 2011 and 2015 general elections in Nigeria, but was not applied during elections in Osun and Edo states, pointing out that the method had been used in many other countries including US, Europe, Asia and Africa.