Over 2.5 million registered voters eligible for Anambra poll, says INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that over 2.5 million registered voters are eligible to participate in the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State.

Its Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who disclosed this during an emergency meeting of political parties at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, the nation’s capital, explained that a total of 138,802 citizens registered to vote during the first quarter of the agency’s Continuous Voter Registration exercise which commenced in June.

But, the Commission discovered that 62,698 people who are already registered voters, had applied again.

“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”, INEC boss said.

While noting  that INEC will provide further details to Nigerians on the situation in other States of the Federation and action to be taken on the matter, Yakubu cautioned Nigerians against double registration.

Lamenting the spate of attacks in Anambra State, the commission submitted that security remains a major challenge to its 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,”he said.

The INEC chairman, however appealed to all political parties and candidates not to exacerbate the feeling of insecurity in Anambra State through unguarded utterances and actions, warning that doing so could compound the security situation and make the Commission’s work even more difficult.