This Saturday, November 6, about 2.5 million people of Anambra State, who have registered as voters in the state according to the Independent National Electoral Commission, will go out to exercise their civic duty of electing the person who will lead the state for the next four years. The situation leaves them with little choice as it is a constitutionally required obligation.
A total of 18 political parties will be vying for the highest number of votes from the 5,720 polling units across the state.
It is indeed a very auspicious moment for the state, the significance of which cannot be over emphasised. It is a moment the generation of today in Anambra must seize for good or lose for ill. It is a moment that must be seized with a view to securing the future of the state and that of up-coming generations.
Today, nothing can be more imperative to the people of Anambra State and indeed every well-meaning Nigerian than to have a peaceful election come Saturday.
The atmosphere has been excruciatingly tense, and, disconcertingly so. Saturday’s election has had the unenviable status of being overshadowed by palpable anxiety. Anxiety over what would happen on the day considering the security challenges that have ravaged the South East region in recent months.
Happily, all relevant stakeholders have agreed that the election should and must go on. It is no longer a question of ‘will it or will it not’. It is settled that it must. Therefore, while relevant bodies, which are expected to play sundry roles in the election are putting finishing touches to logistics; other stakeholders are ready and fervently praying that nothing goes awry on Saturday.
President Muhammadu Buhari has demonstrated his resolve to ensure the election holds, and peacefully, too. About a fortnight ago, the President charged all Service Chiefs to make sure nothing stops the Anambra gubernatorial election from holding.
National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, who spoke to journalists after the security meeting of the Service Chiefs with Buhari at the State House, said the president gave the order in response to the heightened security challenges in Anambra.
“The president has directed that under no circumstances will anything be allowed to stop the elections from taking place successfully. The people have a right to vote and select their leader. No group or individual will be allowed to stimulate anarchy and chaos, leading to murderous activities.
“The President has made it very clear that the armed forces and all law enforcement agencies must make sure that the elections take place, even if it means overwhelming the entire environment with the presence of security agencies,” Monguno said.
“The implications of not holding the election or of it being disrupted are grave and would be very far reaching, politically, socially and economically for Anambra State and the South East in general
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He added, “There are so many implications for elections to be sabotaged by non-state actors. In the first place, we are in a democracy; secondly, it is important to note that if these non-state actors should succeed in destroying the potentials for orderly elections, then it is natural that other parts of the country would also want to copy this same situation.”
Also speaking on the same meeting, Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, had said the Force was ready to ensure peace in Anambra and other parts of the country.
“In particular, we talked about the Anambra governorship election coming on the 6th of November and we want to assure the people of the state and all Nigerians that the government is committed to conducting that election. The election has to be free and fair. We are going to put machinery in place to ensure that people are well secured.
That is the only way to ensure that we promote democracy and good governance in this country,” he noted.
INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, had also expressed the readiness of the Commission to conduct a near-perfect governorship election come Saturday.
Speaking at a workshop for reporters on Election Processes and Procedures in Awka, the state capital, Mahmood, who was represented by the commission’s Director of Publicity, Victor Aluko, said Saturday’s election would enjoy the deployment of modern technology, which would make it more improved than all previous exercises.
He assured that the entire process – from registration to transmission of results – would be fully automated, including the use of bimodal, which took care of unimodal identification processes.
Last week, the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, announced the deployment of an intimidating police presence for the election.
Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, in a press statement, said the IGP made a major overhauling of the security landscape in Anambra State ahead of the elections by deploying Deputy Inspector General of Police, Joseph Egbunike, to the state as the coordinator of the security component.
“DIG Egbunike will be assisted by DIG Zaki Ahmed, five Assistant Inspectors General of Police, 14 Commissioners of Police, 31 Deputy Commissioners of Police and 48 Assistant Commissioners of Police,” he said.
Such an intimidating police presence only goes to show how important the election is to state actors.
But on Saturday, non-state actors hold all the aces. A determination to make the process peaceful and allow those who wish to go and cast their votes to do so in peace and either stay to watch proceedings, or go home without any upheavals, will be all that is needed.
It is on this score that we think efforts by well-meaning elders in speaking with members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, who had announced that they could declare a week-long stay at home from November 4, must be intensified.
All leaders in Anambra State, be they community leaders, political leaders, church leaders or youth leaders, must not relent in the pursuit of a peaceful election.
The implications of not holding the election or of it being disrupted are grave and would be very far reaching, politically, socially and economically for Anambra State and the South East in general. From all indications, anything that makes it impossible for the election to hold would attract the severest of sanctions from the powers that be. And that would be done in no uncertain terms. For instance, a declaration of a state of emergency would be a ready option where it is established that legitimate functions of government can no longer be carried out.
And a declaration of a state of emergency should be the last thing anyone can wish for in any South-Eastern state of the federation at the moment.
A stitch in time, at this time, saves nine.
