Electorate in Anambra State is set to elect a new governor that will pilot the affairs of the state in the next four years. The eligible voters will tomorrow file out to exercise their rights in what promises to be a stiff contest given the strength of the political parties and their candidates.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that 16 candidates will participate in the exercise. Those cleared by INEC include Governor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Paul Chukwuma of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), and John Nwosu of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Also cleared by INEC are George Moghalu of the Labour Party (LP), Echezona Oti of the Allied People’s Movement (APM), Ms. Chioma Ifemeludike of the African Action Congress (AAC), Jeff Nweke of Action Alliance (AA), Charles Onyeze of Accord Party (AP), Geoff Onyejegbu of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), and Jude Ezenwafor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Others are Chukwudubem Nweke of the Action Peoples Party (APP), Jerry Okeke of the Boot Party (BP), Ndidi Olieh of the National Rescue Movement (NRM), Martin Ugwoji of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), and Vincent Chukwurah of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The electoral umpire also said that the election would be conducted in 5,718 polling units across the 21 local government areas of the state and they have mobilized 24,000 ad hoc staff for the election as 2.8 million voters expected participate in the exercise.
Despite the number of candidates, some bookmakers say the election is a three-horse race between Governor Soludo of APGA, Ukachukwu of APC and Moghalu of LP. The belief is that the trio have what it takes to carry the day given their political profiles and structures of their respective parties across the 21 councils of the state.
To ensure a violence-free election, the Nigerian Police Force is deploying 45,000 officers across Anambra State for the exercise. The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, announced this during a meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security.
The meeting, chaired by the INEC chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, and co-chaired by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, brought together senior security, intelligence, and law enforcement officials to finalise strategies for a hitch-free election.
Egbetokun, represented by a Commissioner of Police, Abayomi Shogunle, who heads the Elections Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation unit, said: “The IG will continue to ensure that the Nigeria Police Force provides adequate security for all electoral processes in all parts of Nigeria, and in particular regarding the upcoming governorship elections in Anambra State, the Nigeria Police Force is deploying 45,000 police officers from across the states of the federation to go to Anambra State to ensure that there is a peaceful election.”
The police boss emphasised that only federal security agencies would be involved in the election. “The Nigeria Police Force will ensure that only officers and officials from the ICCES would be permitted to play a role in the Anambra State governorship election. So, all the vigilante groups and all the other agencies of the states would not be allowed to have any role to play during this election,” he said.
