For APC,it is fresh election or nothing – Lai Mohammed

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Alh. Lai Mohammed

With the governorship election  in Anambra State declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and mixed reactions trailing the outcome, the interim National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, argues, in this interview, that the exercise remains irredeemably defective. Excerpts:The governorship election in Anambra State has come and gone…It has not gone.Okay it is still ongoing but while some are calling for outright cancellation of the election,   INEC has vowed to go ahead with a supplementary election. What  happens if it goes ahead with the supplementary poll?There are many options to be explored and such options will be discussed at the NEC meeting of the party. But what does INEC mean by supplementary election? The November 16 governorship election  in Anambra  State is irredeemably defective. We do not understand what INEC means by supplementary election. It is defective to the point that it cannot be redeemed either by a supplementary election or by election being conducted in isolated wards.There are two reasons the November 16 election is irredeemable. One is that the strong holds of the opposition were denied voting materials. And this is a clear case of not just disenfranchisement but there was sabotage as admitted by even the National  Chairman of INEC. He  said a senior official of INEC sabotaged the electoral process.We also have it on good authority that the voter register has been so tampered with that anybody whose names start with  O or U  could not find  his  names in the register.With these, you cannot start talking about a supplementary election. It is like somebody putting a potion of poison in a bucket of water. Are you now saying that you can save part of that water? You have to throw the whole thing away. So, I do not know what they mean by supplementary election. As for Anambra, it has to be fresh election or nothing and, beyond that, Nigerians want to know the name of that INEC official, his position and how he was able to sabotage the election.Nigerians want to know who he was working for? This matter must not be swept under the carpet. If it is allowed to be swept under the carpet, it will   lead to an explosion which is better imagined. We hear from the grapevine that he is working for a particular state governor and that a lot of money has been uncovered and traced to his account. He also indicted a particular state governor.And you think INEC will mention the official’s name?This is now in the open and people are seriously concerned. Because what is done is not just sabotage, it is treason and this could lead to violent reactions on the part of people. Of course, Nigerians have a right to know and INEC has the obligation to tell us the name of this man and how far did he sabotage the election.If they can do it in Anambra, it can be done in Ekiti, Osun and everywhere. So. the problem is much more fundamental than that. Again, it raises the issue of credibility of the register we have because if one person can so tamper with the register, to exclude names starting with certain alphabets, all needed to be done is just come to Osun or Ekiti and remove some names from the register.So, this problem is very fundamental, we cannot start talking about supplementary elections; as a matter of fact, we should stop talking about Anambra now, we should start talking about the integrity of the INEC register.Going by what has happened in Anambra, what do you think will happen in the elections coming up in Osun and Ekiti?Even the whole of Nigeria come 2015… If somebody in INEC can compromise the register, so effectively, that names starting with certain alphabets do not appear, this is a dangerous development and we are very worried about the integrity and safety of the data. Probably, at the end of the day, we might have to adopt another form of election because this is a serious matter.Like what?Again, when our party meets, we shall decide.Protests  greeted the outcome of the election but an aide to Governor Peter Obi has come out to say that those who protested were not from Anambra but from outside the state…Of what relevance is that? Is the election defective because of the protests? Or are people protesting as a result of the defective election? The question to ask is: Why are they protesting? Let us assume that those who protested are from Mars or Jupiter, the question to ask is, Was  election free and fair? Did Idemili North and Idemili South receive voting materials? Did INEC chairman admit or not that a senior official of his commission actually sabotaged the election? These are the issues, whether they are from Mars or Jupiter, it has no consequence.The PDP has come out to hail the outcome of the exercise but the PDP candidate has faulted the process, does that give your party concern?There is a proverb in Igboland which says it is bad to steal but don’t steal for the owner to notice. This is a situation where PDP has stolen for the owner to notice. From the statement of the factional spokesperson  for the PDP, Olisa Metuh, it is clear that the PDP apologists are working for the success of APGA.How else would the National Publicity Secretary of a party describe, in superlative forms, an election, which your candidate was not allowed to vote?The conventional thing for any political party is for you to be in touch with your candidate on the field and get first hand information on how the election is going.The candidate said it loud and clear that he was not allowed to vote, his name was not even on the register and yet, because they had a prepared agenda which was, as long as APC does not win, the election is free and fair.Now, Olisa Metuh, from the records at our disposal, lost his own ward but, as long as APC does not win, it was okay for the prince and the PDP. It has  shown to the world what happened.   This one has boomeranged.What signal is this sending as we approach 2015?Well, three things are clear: the integrity of the INEC register is suspect from this moment on; the integrity of INEC as a whole is suspect from this moment on and, again the 2014 and 2015 elections should be watched because there will be huge potentials for violence.Would you agitate for the removal of the INEC Chairman or the restructuring of the commission?That will be a decision that our party will take.


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