Igbo in Diaspora and the Pan-Niger Delta Forum have vowed to resist rigging of the November 6 governorship poll in Anambra State.
They urged stakeholders involved in the conduct of the election to ensure that the poll was free, fair and devoid of intimidation.
They stated this in a zoom conference organised by a rights group, Civil Society Committee for Anti-fraud Election Security.
The Diasporan Igbo and PANDEF leaders, including Chairman of World Igbo Congress, Prof Anthony Ejiofor, his World Igbo Assembly,counterpart, Dr. Nwachukwu Anakwenze, and the Publicity Secretary of PANDEF, Ken Robinson who spoke from the United States of America and Germany, opined that the violence in the state was politically motivated.
While condemning the blood-letting in the state ahead of the poll ahead of the poll, they said certain people were planning to impose a governor on the state at all cost.
Anakwenze, said,” Anambra state is Igbo heartland. External forces outside the state are doing everything under the sun to impose a governor on the state to enable them hijack the South-East region.
For Prof Ejiofor, “We have reliable information that voters in the state will be intimidated in such a way that they won’t come out to cast their votes on the election day, through militarilisation of the state , to pave the way for manipulation of the process in favour of a predetermined candidate.”
He warned that WIC under his leadership would mobilise a heavy protest in America against the outcome of the governorship poll if it was manipulated.
The PANDEF spokesman, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Nigeria security agencies to ensure that the election was not manipulated.
A former Minister of Women Affairs, Chief Josephine Anenih warned those sponsoring blood-letting in the state to desist from such act, describing it as a sacrilege that could bring a generational curse upon the perpetrators.
Convener of the conference, Kennedy Iyare , on his part urged journalists and people of the state to use the group’s anti-fraud situation room to expose any unwholesome activities of persons during the poll
