~ Commission won’t tolerate campaign of calumny
By Ifeizu Joe
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would pay attention to spending by candidates in the 2027 general election, insisting that those who engage in vote buying would be prosecuted.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commission (REC) in charge of Anambra State, Dr Queen Elizabeth Agwu stated this yesterday during a stakeholders meeting attended by leaders and representatives of political parties, candidates, community leaders and media representatives.
She said: “We don’t want a repeat of what happened during the 2025 governorship election in Anambra State where people were talking about families and other matters away from the election. INEC will not accept it.
“We will not tolerate campaign of calumny. Campaigns have been lifted and we expect candidates to go into the field and tell the people what they can do. It is immaterial if a candidate is impotent or if a candidate’s wife’s last child is not the candidate’s, it is immaterial. Just tell the people what you will do for them.”
Speaking on vote buying, the REC said: “We will monitor vote buying and we are urging people to report vote buyers. I have never witnessed one, but we call on those who notice it to report to us.
“The money you will use to buy votes, why not give it to the people during election campaigns and tell them what you will do for them. This is the time to campaign. It is not INEC that engages in vote buying, and it is not done by the police or other organizations, but by politicals parties. All parties are engaged in vote buying and at the end you blame INEC and want us to stop it when you are the ones doing it.”
She also insisted that the commission is very prepared for the 2027 election, adding that those planning to use thugs to carry ballot boxes during the election will be disappointed because such stolen boxes would be useless to those who took them.
“We beg you not to engage thugs, if you don’t get to power today you will get tomorrow. Election is about planning. You must plan, you must engage the people, you don’t just jump out hoping to win because you have paid young boys to disrupt the process for you. We want to assure you that plans are in place and very soon, election malpractice would be a thing if the past
“INEC is ready for the coming election and we have made adequate preparation and I want to assure you there will not no glitches in the 2027 election. I told you people so during the Anambra governorship election and it came to pass, so I’m promising you again that there would be no glitches in the coming election.
“It’s 97 days to the election and we are ready. We want the political parties and their candidates to prepare early enough too.
“We have warned our staff not to take money from politician and if we catch politician who are luring our staff for result sheets or to rig election, we will prosecute you. Some people get scammed by people who are not even our staff because of desperation, but they come and say it is our staff. We will not let that happen in 2027.
“Snatching ballot boxes is now obsolete and if you do it, we have enough technology to make it useless to you,” the REC said.
