INEC EXTENDS ELECTION TO SUNDAY AS APGA WIN 6 POLLING UNIT SO FAR

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended voting in the Anambra governorship poll to Sunday, to allow voters who were not able to vote due to malfunctioning of the Bimodal Accreditation System (BVAS) to vote.

Dr Nkwachukwu Orji, the state INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) disclosed this at a news briefing held in the INEC headquarters, Awka on Saturday.

He said that the measure became necessary to enable more if not all, eligible voters to cast their votes in the areas affected by the malfunctioning of the system.

He said that the BVAS malfunctioned because of software glitches.

Nkwachukwu said that the commission was already working to rectify the problem.

“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.

“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 cases of malfunction of the BVAS, the Presiding Officer must inform the voters and polling agents that accreditation and voting shall continue tomorrow or at another time determined by the Commission,” he said.

He also noted that deployment was 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 per cent 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,” he said.

The INEC official appealed to all voters, candidates, stakeholders and political parties to remain calm and law-abiding.

“We assure you that the commission is determined to make all votes count,” he said.

Early results have given preliminary victory to the All Progressives Grand Alliance in all six local government areas announced so far in the ongoing Anambra State governorship election.

The party’s candidate, Charles Soludo, had earlier been reported to have won his polling unit and ward by wide margin.

Mr Soludo has amassed the highest votes in Onitsha South, Awka South, Anaocha, Anambra East, Orumba South and Njikoka.

Anambra State has 21 local government areas and collation is expected to extend into Sunday.

There are 18 candidates contesting in the election. None of them is a woman, despite Anambra State being the only state to have had a female governor in Nigeria. Virginia Etiaba became governor in November 2006 after former Governor Peter Obi was impeached, but she handed over back to Mr Obi in February 2007 after an appeal court nullified the impeachment.

Local government results so far:

NJIKOKA

APC – 3,216

APGA – 8,803

YPP – 924

ORUMBA SOUTH

APC: 2,060

APGA: 4,394

PDP: 1,672

YPP: 887

ANAMBRA EAST

APC 2034

APGA: 9746

PDP: 1380

YPP: 559

ANAOCHA

APC – 2,085

APGA – 6,911

PDP – 5,108

YPP – 868

AWKA SOUTH

APC – 2595

APGA – 12891

PDP – 5489

YPP – 919

ONITSHA SOUTH

APC – 2,050

APGA – 4,281

PDP – 2,253