Various party chairmen and journalists who gathered at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Awka on Thursday were left stranded after State Resident Electoral Commissioner Dr. Queen Agwu refused to attend to their enquiries. The groups had wanted to observe the movement of electoral materials from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Awka, but they were shut out.
Party chairmen and agents who arrived at the CBN office around 8 p.m. alleged that INEC loaded voting materials onto trucks without providing the serial numbers needed for documentation. Speaking to journalists, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state chairman Ndubisi Nwobu described the INEC officials’ attitude as “very disappointing.” He explained that party agents needed the details of the voting materials to relay to their officials for cross‑checking upon arrival. “We want to believe that the materials will not leave tonight. We are hoping that by tomorrow morning INEC will provide us with the serial numbers before the materials leave the CBN,” Nwobu said, adding that he had seen some INEC officials, though they appeared very busy.
Young Progressive Party (YPP) state chairman Prince Moses Obi expressed surprise that INEC ignored their presence while loading the voting materials. “We were here to inspect the arrival and departure of INEC voting materials from the CBN for the Saturday elections. I am not happy with the process they adopted. INEC needs to provide us with the serial numbers for each local government council,” he said.
Meanwhile, journalists covering the distribution of the materials were denied access to the Resident Electoral Commissioner. Less than 24 hours before the general elections, INEC in Anambra has yet to accredit journalists. Reporters who have been visiting the INEC office in Awka since Wednesday say the commission keeps offering excuses for the failure to distribute accreditation tags. They observed that Anambra INEC Public Relations Officer Kingsley Agwu and other officials remained unperturbed, repeatedly postponing the journalists’ visits. When journalists arrived on Tuesday for accreditation, they were told to return on Wednesday; on Wednesday, they were again told to check back on Thursday. One journalist, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “It was the same story each time. We were told the tags have not arrived and will come soon, but we have not received any.” On Thursday, the journalists who gathered for the tags left disappointed and angry, still without accreditation. Our correspondent noted that journalists in other states have already been accredited and received their tags.
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