Anambra Election: INEC Confirms Reports of Ballot Snatching, Police Reacts

• An official of the Independent National Electoral Commission has confirmed the snatching of ballot boxes in the state
• The official also said that there were cases of disruption of the governorship electoral process by some thugs in various polling units
• However, the police in Anambra has denied that such incident or its like occurred during the governorship election in the state

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed reports of snatching of ballot boxes in some polling units during the governorship election in Anambra state.

The electoral body said it received reports of disruption of election and snatching of ballot boxes in some polling units across the state.

INEC's resident electoral commission in the state, Nwachukwu Orji, while speaking on Channels Television on Saturday, November 6, said there were cases of ballot box snatching in Idemili local government area of Anambra state.

According to Orji, thugs harassed officials of the commission and carted away with seven boxes containing hundreds of ballot boxes.

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He said the thugs also disrupted the election process in the area.

Orji said:

“This happened in Idemili North and South. About seven were carted away.”

In another instance, the INEC REC said that the commission officials were denied entry into some areas in the state thereby delaying the election exercise in those areas.

He, however, said that incidents such as this could not be considered a major security challenge for the commission during the course of an election.

He added:

“I wouldn’t consider it a major security challenge because the election was relatively peaceful. It was even surprisingly peaceful for some people because of fears of attack and all.”

Possible cancellation of votes in affected areas

Reacting to the host's question on the possible cancellation of votes in the affected areas, Orji said such a decision would be taken after the whole process.

According to him, the election process in the states has to come to an end before there would be a consideration on whether areas affected by ballot snatching would be cancelled or not.

A reaction by police in Anambra state

Following confirmation by INEC and multiple reports of disruption of the election process in Anambra, the police in the state have denied knowledge of such incidents.

The commissioner of police in Anambra state, Echeng Echeng said elections have been peaceful.

According to Echeng, he did not get any report of disruption of election or snatching of ballot boxes in any of the polling units around the state.

Echeng said:

“The elections have been peaceful. I don’t know what he (INEC official) is talking about. I did not get any report of any incident throughout today."

“I’m the commissioner of police. I have not heard about that. He should tell me about that. There is synergy but I did not hear of that. I also didn’t get that report that people were not allowed to go into some communities in the state."

According to the police commissioner, more than 90% of the challenges encountered during the election were not security-related.

He said

“They were INEC- related. Talk about transportation, talking about ad-hoc staff who arrived polling units late. Talk about transporters who refused to convey materials except they were paid.

“Most of the places they didn’t have elections were because materials arrived late. These are not security-related."

He added that there was adequate security everywhere in the state and that the election went on smoothly.

Gunshots in some parts of Anambra state on Sunday, November 7

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that residents of Anambra took to their heels on Sunday, November 7, the morning after a series of gunshots filled the air.

Some of the residents who spoke to this newspaper said they scampered for safety upon hearing the gunshot around the Niger Bridge.

Also, Legit.ng on getting to the area discovered that soldiers of the Nigerian military had put up a roadblock on the Niger bridge causing gridlock with many resorting to trekking.

One of the residents who spoke on the matter said they were travelling and had to alight from the vehicles which they boarded to walk past the bridge before boarding another one.

In other news, residents in Awka have continued with their normal life activities a day after a huge boycott of the election process in the state.

A resident told Legit.ng that many people were scared to come out to exercise their franchise because of the heavy security presence all over the state.