§ Alleges vote buying, security operatives’ altercation
By Michael Nnebife
The Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), a nongovernmental and observer group, has described the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State as the most peaceful election in Nigeria.
The
Executive Director of CTA, Faith Nwadishi, who made the description in Awka
during a media conference organised by the observer group, with joy commended
the people of the state, for coming out en masse to exercise their franchise in
a peaceful manner.
Nwadishi
joyously said, “the most peaceful elections in Nigeria are held in Anambra
State. We said this, four days ego that we saw such last four years.
Ndi-Anambra have proved us right; therefore, we congratulate them, for that.
“The
kind of crowd we saw in certain places, I personally didn’t expect such;
ndi-Anambra have made us proud; and we’re happy to say that,” she said.
She,
however, alleged that vote buying and unhealthy and unprofessional conducts
among the security operatives and some members of an accredited observer group were
openly played out in some certain areas and stressed that her group would
appropriately make a report to the appropriate quarters.
Her
words, “we have a downside of our electoral process – the issue of vote buying.
All the political parties were paying voters … the highest, N5,000; some were
collecting as little as N500 to sell their vote for next four years. These
really pain me.
“Even
the police were also induced by money. Around the boundary between Awka South
and Njikoka, we saw security agents gathered, and were sharing money, N5,000
each.
“In
another poll unit, we almost experience a fight between civil defence personnel
and a policeman; the policeman was given money to share among the security
agents around, but he kept the money. This resulted in open altercation between
the security agencies.
“We
observed some members of accredited observer group who were not so professional
… some of them were clearly patrician (to the extent of ) taking the duties of
party agents – we have that captured in pictures and we have their names as we
are going to do an appropriate report to the appropriate quarters,” she
stressed.
While
expressing worrying over the low rate of inclusion of women in politics, the
CTA boss observed that women constituted greater percentage of voters, and
began to question the political elite on why women should not be given their
rightful place in the politics of the nation.
All
the high ranking members of the group who were present in the event, including
the Anambra State Director of National Orientation Agency, Charles Nwoji, could
not hide their joy as they turn to applaud the people of the state, unanimously
adjudging the election as the most peaceful in the political history of the
state in particular, and the nation at large.
Nwadishi, Nwoji (middle) and some high ranking members of
the group during the event
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