Victor EzejaPEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP), candidate in the Anambra 2021 governorship election, Dr Valentine Ozigbo has decried the hitches that occured with use of INEC’ Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and other developments during polls which he said led to disenfranchisement of voters.
Ozigbo who made the assertion in a statement released on Monday, said some of the challenges encountered during the exercise which held on Saturday and Sunday was a reflection of “the dysfunction in Nigeria.”
The PDP flagbearer in the election commended INEC for making attempt to digitize the election process, but noted some challenges like the technical hitches with the BVAS, poorly trained INEC ad-hoc staff and logistical challenges which he said denied thousands of people opportunity of voting and generally marred the electoral process.
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He accused some political parties of embarked activities considered anti-democratic such as vote-buying, intimidation of voters at polling units, fabrication of election results sheets and coercion of collation officers to sign such results.
He said such development amounts to truncation of the common will of the people as to who emerges as their leader.
“At this critical time in history, we should be expanding the political space to include more people. What we experienced on November 6 was the antithesis of democracy. The election was not held in many polling units. Election materials arrived late in some and never came in others. Collation and returning officers were forced to sign result sheets, and in some cases, the result sheets were totally fabricated.
“Thousands of voters were disenfranchised by INEC officials who shut down voting before the extended voting deadline. The voices of a greater majority of our people were not heard, and the consequence is that they did not get the opportunity to choose who would lead them for the next four years.
“Agents of the two ruling parties, at the centre and the state level, embarked on brazen voter intimidation and vote buying at polling units using state resources while the security agents on duty stood by as electoral crimes were committed in the open,” Ozigbo stated.
He also pointed out that some people play politics along religious divides, and warned about the consequences of such practice on the unity and development of the state.
He declared that despite the turn of events, he was still in the race, as he is committed to a vision of giving the state a quality governance that touches the lives of all citizens of the state positively.
He stressed the need to imbibe the culture of continuous improvement in the way things are done in governance in order to achieve significant progress.
He said his party, PDP is still in the race and will participate in the supplementary polls to be held on Tuesday November 9 2021, at Ihiala which would conclude the election.
Ozigbo also thanked all those who are supporting his vision for a better Anambra State.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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