Anambra Elections: INEC Begins Consultation on Anambra Central Poll

The Independent National Elector­al Commission (INEC) is consulting with the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) to ensure the immediate conduct of the Anambra Central Sena­torial rerun election.
The people of Anam­bra Central Senatorial Dis­trict have been denied full representation in the Sen­ate for about two years since the annulment of the victo­ry of Mrs Uche Ekwunife of the People’s Democratic Par­ty (PDP) by the Election Pe­titions Tribunal.

Ekwunife’s election was challenged by the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Vic­tor Umeh. She hurriedly de­fected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to use the party’s platform to recon­test the election while she challenged the annulment of her election at the Su­preme Court.

The APC and the PDP also challenged the earli­er declaration by INEC that their candidates would be pro­hibited from contesting in the rerun as earlier proclaimed by the court when Ekwunife’s elec­tion was voided.
But following the recent Su­preme Court judgement which threw out the petition of Ek­wunife, INEC, which met yes­terday with 40 political parties, agreed that the commission was set to reach out to all the politi­cal parties that have cases at the lower courts on the Anambra Central election to reach an am­icable resolution of the crisis and fix a date for the election.
Briefing the media at the end of its quarterly meeting with political parties on Tues­day in Abuja, the Deputy Na­tional Chairman of IPAC, Dr. Onwubuya Breakforth, said that INEC had been charged to ex­plore avenues of meeting with all the parties and stakeholders involved in the series of litiga­tions on the Anambra Central Senatorial District election to re­solved the issue and quickly fix a date for the election.
Reaffirming the decision of the commission and IPAC, INEC Director of Voter Edu­cation and Publicity, Oluwole Osaze-Uzi, said that the elec­toral body was determined to put the Anambra Central issue to rest.
He added that INEC would commence consultation with the political parties and stake­holders involved, as well as seek for the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) method to arrive at an amicable solution that could guarantee a date for the election.
“In view of the new Su­preme Court judgement on An­ambra Central Senatorial elec­tion, it was agreed that INEC should work with all the polit­ical parties that have cases in the lower courts to find amica­ble ways to resolve the ongoing litigations out of court to ena­ble the commission conduct the outstanding election in the Sen­atorial District. INEC shall en­gage with the parties involved based on this principle,” he said.
The meeting welcomed the assurances by INEC to com­mence the nationwide Contin­uous Voter Registration (CVR) in April 2017 at local govern­ment levels. The political par­ties pledged to support the commission in the registration of new voters and creating pub­lic awareness in the distribution of uncollected Permanent Vot­ers Cards (PVC).
On the request for registra­tion by some political associa­tions, INEC disclosed that it has received 86 applications from associations and promised to register all the groups that meet the registration requirements.