•Says IPOB, insecurity, discontentment among  Igbo may affect polls

From Geoffrey

Anyanwu, Awka

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Anambra State, Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji has said that 35 candidates would participate in the November 18 governorship election. 

He added that the number does not include the candidates of political parties that held their primaries without the knowledge of the commission.

Related News

 While addressing the Civil Society groups in Awka, Orji said that the Biafra agitation, general discontentment in the South-East and the security challenges were the three elements that would define the election and may rub-off in the electoral process.

 He said the challenges facing the commission were funding, erratic power supply, bureaucratic delay and discontentment on the part of voters, but assured that the commission has the ability to scale through.

He also said that the commission requires 20, 000 personnel to conduct a hitch-free and successful governorship election in the state and promised that the voters’ register containing the 2 million people who registered to vote would be published in three weeks time. Earlier, the Executive Director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Clement Nwankwo, who is also the convener of the meeting which was supported by the British Department for International Development (DFID), had said that the election was crucial to the body because of its peculiarity.

He cautioned against the heavy presence of the military during the election which according to him might scare voters from freely exercising their franchise, just as he underscored the need for adequate mobilization of the police to ensure they carry out their mandate efficiently.