Prof. Charles Soludo, Anambra Governor
Anambra 2021: ‘Early reports not encouraging’– Soludo, rates INEC ‘poor’
Candidate of the ruling All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Prof Charles Soludo has disclosed that reports reaching him from around the state on the conduct of this Saturday’s governorship poll is not encouraging, as the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) decried the malfunctioning system deployed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the political exercise.
According to him, the BVAS technology adopted by INEC instead of the previous card reader system-based polling process has failed to meet expectation of the Anambra electorate going by the spate of complaints which have trailed its deployment.
Soludo, who arrived at the polling unit in Ofiyi to vote, while expressing satisfaction with the level of security in place for the election, however, said he was dismayed to learn that about 800 would-be voters were stranded in a particular voting unit because the voting machines are not working.
“This complain is all over the state,” Soludo said while waiting to cast his vote
He cited the instance of Ihiala Local Government Area of the state where he alleged that the elections materials had not even left the local government because of some other factors.
“This is complete failure so far. Almost 12:30 in the day, voting is yet to start? The technology that ought to take seconds is take 20 minutes. You don’t need to be a mathematician, to know that many people will be disenfranchised.
“The technology, I am shocked to hear this and this is all over the state.”
Soludo also rated INEC poor saying that the inadequacy of INEC staff to man the polling units is a major minus for the election.
“There is hardly any unit where there are enough INEC officials. Also you don’t find the security here.”
He said out of 17 units of a ward, INEC officials are not adequate in 12 units, adding that he would, however, remain patient, even as he noted that he would expect the period of the election to commence only at the time that voting commences.
