Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Anambra State, Dr Elizabeth Agwu, says business is no longer as usual in Anambra as she has made elections in the state unpurchasable.
Agwu said this during a stakeholders dialogue on rebuilding trust in the electoral practices and elections organised by the International Press Centre in Awka, the State capital, Thursday.
She said politicians and candidates who had desired to influence election outcomes in the state have met frustrations as they were given outrageous conditions for elections to be rigged in their favour.
“Everybody in Anambra who knows me knows that I’m a working REC and not the opposite. It is in Anambra where every person, the who is who, who has money to buy elections could not do so because I made it unpurchasable.
“I have told people that if you feel strongly that you want to buy the election, and answer the winner, you have to give me N3 billion naira.
“It has not been possible for anybody to pay me that money and that is why I have been allowed to conduct the elections and they failed. I’m not happy at anyone’s failure but the right thing must be done.
“INEC has its job clearly spelt out in Nigeria constitution without external influence but the challenge is that everybody surrounding us want to bear influence on us to do what they want and not what God wants.”
Agwu reminded the dangers of trading votes for money during elections, noting that it will continue to undermine the integrity of Nigeria’s democracy and hinder the country’s progress if left unchecked.
She recalled how a Supervising Presiding Officer (SPO), who happened to be a mother, sold voters’ registers, voter cards, and result sheets to a political party and unknown individuals during the last election. “These are the set of people I would want to use to set an example but before I could find out, it was too late,” she said.
“In Nigeria, we are in a jungle where there is no light. Many things are our inhibitors. Majority of the people including the educated ones are ignorant, selfish, greedy, impatience and speculative. INEC as an institution is made up of many people. We want Nigeria to be good but we have to do the right thing to achieve what we desire,” she added.
