Posted by By DAVID ONWUCHEKWA, Nnewi on
As voters across the country cry foul over April 21 presidential and National Assembly poll, Saturday Sun has made a stunning discovery at Nnewi North local government area, Anambra State where an eye-bulging quantity of INEC election materials were dumped in a bush.
• Anambra election materials dumped in a bush
•Some were thumb-printed but most were blank
As voters across the country cry foul over April 21 presidential and National Assembly poll, Saturday Sun has made a stunning discovery at Nnewi North local government area, Anambra State where an eye-bulging quantity of INEC election materials were dumped in a bush.
The election materials, including over fifty cartons of ballot papers (which contain about two thousand pieces each), voters registers and result sheets in large quantum were found scattered in and around a bush path at Egbu Umuenem community in Otolo Nnewi. Some of the ballot papers bore thumb - prints. The spot where the materials were discovered is popularly called 'Ilongwuro".
Leading Saturday Sun to inspect the diverted INEC election materials meant for April 21 election, a candidate (names withheld) for Nnewi North/South and Ekwusigo federal constituency, in the company of Nnewi North local government officials expressed shock that such large quantities of INEC election materials were diverted and dumped in a bush while voters queued up in the sun waiting in vain for INEC officials and their materials to arrive at various polling stations.
Some of the villagers who saw the team of local government officials that came to inspect the abandoned INEC materials were scared to talk to this correspondent. But one of them who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it was not 'unlikely that those who dumped the materials felt they could not thumb-print enough to meet the required figure, so they dumped the whole thing and just left with some result sheets to go enter votes for our area, even as we did not vote".
The scene of the incident depicted that the perpetrators were in large numbers, as some of the materials and bushes around had been severely trampled upon..
Reacting to the find, the Nnewi North local government transition committee chairman, Hon. (Mrs.) Calista Nkiru Adimachukwu, described the incident as a coup on democracy.
She said she was deeply touched when she witnessed the crime and blamed INEC and security agents for the lapses.
Meanwhile, comrade Emeka Umeagbalasi - led Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) in Anambra has called on aggrieved candidates who feel hard done by the massive fraud of the elections to sheath their swords and seek proper redress rather than incite the masses into violent demonstrations.
Said Umeagbalasi: 'Though five sets of election are questionable in terms of credibility in statistics, lets handle it with care for the sake of successful transition from civilian to civilian which for decades has eluded Nigeria.
Aggrieved persons should not vent their anger on our collective human and material patrimony, but they should follow due process."