ANPP: April polls not free, fair

Despite noticeable improvement, the April 2011 general elections cannot be said to be free and fair as the forces of darkness still had their ways, the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) said yesterday in Abuja.

In the party’s first official reaction after the elections, national chairman of the party, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who said many unsavoury things happened during the election, was speaking while receiving a delegation of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) led by Carlo Binda, the Senior Country Director for International Affairs, in his office.

The ANPP which presidential candidate and Kano State governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau lost the presidency as well as the Kano State governorship election, lamented that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recorded some lapses which people ignored because of the desire to have the elections held.

Onu who commended INEC for a marked improvement in the elections over those of 2007, however said the process was characterized by malpractices in many places thus subverting the will of the people.

“While attentions were concentrated on urban centres during the election monitoring, irregularities and other malpractices were being perpetrated in the hinterland and other remote communities away from the prying eyes of the security agents and observers. These are the areas that constitute the largest part of the country.

“2011 showed some significant improvements over and above 2007, but there were disturbing signals and signs pertaining to the subversion of the will of the people; disturbing, because the pattern of voting showed a division between the North and South. The pre-election scenario also showed that the nation was polarized though beyond geographical boundaries as the zoning controversies within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP),” Onu said.

While lamenting that his party suffered most in the South-East and South-South, he alleged that “money was deployed against the electoral law so much so that voters and party agents became commodities that were bought.”

He said: “This is a disturbing signal that money was freely shared by those who have access to public funds. They bought over party agents to engage in illegal thumb printing. Our law does not support this and we have to point it out. There were harassments and intimidation of voters, we hope INEC will see to all these and do something about it. In some instances, sitting governors have resisted the wind of change that blew across their states and did all within their power to subvert the peoples’ will.”

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