By Ezeocha Nzeh
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it is yet to recruit all the required 26,000 ad hoc staff for the November 6 governorship election in Anambra state
INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, admitted while addressing an emergency meeting of the commission and representatives of the registered 18 political parties that fielded candidates for the election that the commission still has some shortfall in the required number, whose training is expected to commence in one weeks time
Though no reason was given for the shortfall, with barely one week to the commencement of training, The AUTHORITY gathered that people, especially members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Anambra state may have shunned the ad hoc staff job, following the rising insecurity, as well as threats by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) against the conduct of the November 6 election
This is even as the Commission has urged the political parties and their candidates to moderate their utterances ahead of the election, so ast to avoid adding to the already volatile situation occassioned by the election in the state
The INEC chairman disclosed that a total of 138,802 citizens completed the registration, including applications for transfer and requests for replacement of lost, damaged or defaced PVCs as required by law, adding however that in the process of cleaning up the registration data, the commission discovered some 62,698 double registrations
“Consequently, the number of valid registrants in Anambra State at the end of the First Quarter of the CVR exercise on 5th September 2021 is 77,475. This figure has been added to the existing register of 2,447,996 eligible voters used for the 2019 General Election. Accordingly, the number of registered voters in Anambra State now stands at 2,525,471. We shall provide a detailed breakdown of the figure for public information in the days ahead.”
“We have almost completed the recruitment of ad hoc staff for the election. In all, about 26,000 election duty staff is required. Although there are still some minor shortfalls, we believe that we will complete the recruitment in time for their training scheduled to commence on 19th October 2021. The training of other categories of staff, such as Electoral Officers (EOs) and Assistant Electoral Officers (AEOs) has been completed, while the training of Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs) will commence soon.
The INEC chairman expressed the Commission’s commitment to deploying the BVAS for electronic fingerprint and facial accreditation of voters, while insisting that going forward; nobody will be allowed to vote in any election without successful biometric accreditation.
“However, security remains a major challenge to our preparations. For the political parties, these heinous attacks have truncated campaigns, making voter mobilization and sensitization impossible. Consequently, Anambra State is not in the usual election mood. It is in the light of the security situation in the State that the Commission held an emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) last Tuesday. The meeting was frank and productive. We are assured of the determination of the security agencies to protect voters, election staff, election observers, the media, transport providers and candidates during the election.
Already, security around INEC facilities in the State has been ramped up. We are also confident that the heightened deployment of security officials, which is expected in the coming weeks, will further give citizens the confidence to turn up and vote on Election Day. We shall continue to work with the security agencies to ensure that the election is successful and violence-free.
“I wish to appeal to all political parties and candidates not to exacerbate the feeling of insecurity in Anambra State through unguarded utterances and actions. This could compound the security situation and make the work of the Commission, political parties and security agencies even more difficult. It may also lead to voter apathy. This moment calls for statesmanship and maturity hence the decision to convene this emergency meeting,” he noted
Meanwhile, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Anambra State, Nwachukwu Orji disclosed at the weekend that the commission had approached the government to grant its permission to close down schools for the training of ad hoc staff.
Orji, who stated this at a dialogue session organised by the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, dismissed suggestions that INEC was running behind schedule for the election.
He said, “For the training of ad hoc staff, we will need to use school facilities. We are talking with the Anambra state government to grant us permission for the closure of schools for some days to enable us to train ad hoc staff.
“If the election is to come up next week, we will be able to deliver. We have all the materials we need and we are working within the time schedule. We hope that the environment will be conducive to deliver on the election.”
The Convener of the NCSSR, Ms Eneh Obi, described the violence and insecurity building up ahead of the governorship poll as worrisome.
She said, “We had a meeting two days ago in Anambra State and a number of citizens are visibly scared of coming out for that election and that is why we are calling on the civil society in the state and the citizens to prevail on those fomenting trouble to stop.”
