Collection of results in the historic governorship election in Anambra State has begun, with the formal end of voting throughout the state.
The election was characterised by a high level of voter apathy, but it has been seen as being generally peaceful.
“It was generally peaceful,” a party Collection officer said by phone from Awkuzu in Oyi Local government area of the state. “I think there was no problem in any place.”
The Indigenous People of Biafra, which is fighting for independence for Nigeria’s southeast, had threatened to halt the election, which sent a general feeling of fear into the region.
IPOB had earlier announced a week-long sit-at-order that was supposed to take effect from Friday. The group however cancelled the order on Thursday and urged the people of the state to come out to vote.
Anambra indigenes and indeed the whole of Southeast Nigeria are heaving sighs of relief the November 6 polls have come and are almost gone.
“It is a mood of relief from impending danger because the coming of the election caused a lot of tension. Now that we are almost out of it, the mood is that of an escape from impending danger. The people are happy,” said the party collection officer.
“Generally, there was voter apathy. I am a collection officer; I have not seen any result sheet that had up to 10% of the registered voters casting their votes. Yes, it is that bad,” he said.
He blamed the apathy on the threat by IPOB that there should be no election. “A lot of people escaped from the state. The transport fare from Onitsha to Abuja doubled; from Awka (the state capital) and Onitsha to Lagos, all doubled. Those that didn’t know anywhere to run to, stayed in their homes,” he said.
Besides voter apathy, there were lots of hiccups that slowed down the voting process. Some of the accredited officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission could not report to voting centres on schedule. In some places, the electoral body had to recruit voters hurriedly to be able to man some voting centres.
There were also delays in accrediting voters, as the card readers failed to work in many places. Prof Charles Soludo, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, the party ruling in Anambra, was one of those who could not vote early as the card reader failed to clear him.
Other candidates were able to vote at their various wards. These include Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress, and Valentine Ozigbo of the People’s Democratic Party.
Another person affected by the failure of the machine was Dr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Productivity. He spent over one hour at his Alor Ward polling unit in the Idemili South Local Government Area, waiting to be cleared to vote.
INEC extended the voting time by an hour to 4 pm.
Below is the text of the message by INEC:
TEXT OF A PRESS STATEMENT BY THE RESIDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSIONER, ANAMBRA STATE ON OPENING AND CLOSING OF POLLS FOR THE ANAMBRA STATE GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION, SATURDAY 6TH NOVEMBER 2021
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the period for opening and closing of Poll from 8.30am to 4.00pm. This revised closing time applies to areas where Polling Units opened after the commencement period of 8.30am. In line with existing regulations and guidelines of the Commission, any intending voter who is on the queue by 4.00 pm shall be allowed to vote. All Polling Unit staff must comply with this directive.
The extension of time arose out of several field reports that voters have had problems with accreditation. The Commission is currently investigating the reason the accreditation devices, Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), have worked perfectly in some Polling Units, but not in others. In some of the cases, it would seem that this resulted from software glitches. Our technicians have already built an update to the devise software to prevent further challenges. The update is currently being installed in the concerned BVAS and we request voters, candidates and agents to be patient and allow our technical staff to solve the problem.
The Commission wishes to reiterate that in cases of sustained malfunction of the BVAS, the Presiding Officer must inform the voters and polling agents that accreditation and voting for the affected Polling Unit shall continue tomorrow or at another time determined by the Commission. With this extension of time and the recommencement of accreditation where the BVAS consistently malfunctions, the Commission assures that no voter will be disenfranchised.
Our deployment has also been adversely affected by transportation challenges in some locations. It must be noted that on account of security concerns, some of the transporters that were mobilized and collected 50% of their sign on fee backed out at the last moment, leaving some of our ad-hoc staff stranded. Also, some of the trained ad-hoc staff backed out at the last moment. The Commission is on top of these challenges and extant regulations and guidelines will be applied on a case by case bases. Consequently, we are harvesting areas where voting will realistically no longer take place today, including places where substantial disruption has occurred, to enable a possible recommencement of voting at another time, in line with extant laws and the regulations and guidelines of the Commission.
We appeal to all voters, candidates, stakeholders communities and political parties to remain calm and law abiding. We assure you that the Commission is determined to a make all votes count.
Thank you.