The candidate of Accord in the November 6 governorship poll in Anambra State , Dr Godwin Maduka has called for its cancellation .
Maduka who came fifth in the election said the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission did not reflect the wishes of the people of the state.
Maduka stated this at his home in Umuchukwu, Orumba South local government area of the state , adding that election was marred by irregularities.
He listed poor performance of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machine, late arrival of INEC materials and poorly trained adhoc staff as factors that led to voter apathy.
He decried the high level of disenfranchisement of the people especially the elderly who he said were exposed to hunger as most of them waited in vain to get accredited.
He said “At this point I believe alot needed to be done. Most people didn’t vote, I can actually say close to 40 percent went home out of frustration without casting their vote.
“The machines were faulty and the INEC staff arrived around 11am for an election that was supposed to start by 8am”.
“It took me up to two hours trying to get accredited and this had left uneasy tension among most of the voters including the aspirants and so I believe the election has to be redone”.
“This election was fraught with a lot of short-comings on the part of various government institutions. The security agencies failed to provide a peaceful environment for campaigns to hold. On election day, they were absent from many polling centres leading to elections not holding or held in situations that allowed for chaos and fraud”.
He urged INEC to make away with the BVAS machine and go for the manual voting process, adding that “there is no clear winner until the election is repeated.
“Alot of Ndi Anambra have been calling me asking me when to vote again and I say to them, be patient, INEC will have to re-do the election process”.
