The leaders of the Int’l Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), the Southeast Zone of the Civil Liberties Organization (Southeast CLO) and the Southeast Based Coalition of Democracy and Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs) have today adopted (with modifications) as a joint statement in-depth investigative and expert findings recently made ahead of the Nov 6 2021 Anambra Governorship Election by Democracy and Good Governance Department of Intersociety.

This joint statement by our Coalition was jointly signed by Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chinwe Umeche, Esquire and Chidimma Eva Udegbunam, Esquire (for Intersociety), Comrades Aloysius Attah and Vincent Ezekwueme (for Southeast CLO) and Jerry Chukwuokoro, PhD and Okezie Kelechi, PhD (for SBCHROs). The work exposes the leading poll riggers in Anambra State and their rigging plans ahead of the State’s November 6 2021 Governorship Election. Solutions as to how to stop and forestall their “crossover loads” were also proffered. Conscientious political parties, their candidates, campaign councils and agents as well as credible independent poll monitors are hereby strongly called upon to critically study and analyze the expert and investigative findings and proactively act on the same accordingly and on time.

Background Of Poll Rigging In Anambra: 19th April 2003 was the noticeable beginning of poll rigging in Anambra State following Nigeria’s return to civil rule on 29th May 1999. In the 19th April 2003 armada of electoral fraud, Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige was fraudulently declared by INEC as “winner” and credited with 47.2% of “voters’ turnout/registered voters” or over one million “votes”. The electoral courts later in August 2005/March 2006 set aside his charade victory and recognized Peter Obi’s 235,000 votes and declared him the credible winner.

In the 14th April 2007 unlawful Governorship Election, Mr. Emmanuel Nnamdi Uba was declared “winner” by INEC which fraudulently claimed that he “polled 1,093,000 votes or 80% of total votes cast to defeat his closest rival, Dame Virginia Etiaba who polled 77,000 votes”. INEC also falsely declared that “900,000 voters voted, out of which Uba scored one million, ninety-three thousand votes” In other words, ‘more people voted for Uba than the total number that came out to vote’. In reality, less than 200,000 people voted in the charade voting.

Names Of Six High/Appellate Court Justices Ruined By Anambra Poll Riggers

In 2004, a senior member of the Uba Family, Ugochukwu, was found to have bribed two Justices of the Court of Appeal, Okwuchukwu Opene and David Adeniji with huge sums of money and some estate properties in Abuja. They were dismissed in 2005. In January 2004, Justice Wilson Egbo-Egbo of Abuja High Court was compulsorily retired for granting an order ex-exparte in July 2003 restraining former Gov Chris Ngige from acting or carrying his job as governor.

Justice Stanley Nnaji of Enugu High Court was sacked by NJC in 2003 for extra jurisdictional misconducts when he ordered that Chris Ngige, the then governor of Anambra State, should be removed from office back in July 2003. Justice Chuka Okoli, a former Chief Judge of Anambra State was sacked and retired in February 2007 for his controversial role in the unlawful impeachment of Gov Peter Obi in 2006. Justice Adeniyi Ademola was a judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja; compulsorily retired by Federal Government on 9th February 2018 on the basis of NJC’s recommendation on 6th December 2017. His retirement followed his indictment based on a petition by a group of eight persons under the name of House of Reps Members-Elect from Anambra State who accused him of delivering a judgment five months after reserving the matter for judgment, contrary to the Constitutional maximum of 90 days.

Agitators Anti Poll Threats & Siege By Security Forces Are Rigging Enablers

The gateway into Anambra Poll rigging per Nov 6 Governorship Election are the anti poll threats by the agitators and counter threats and siege by security forces especially soldiers of the Nigerian Army and personnel of the Nigeria Police Force. While the agitators’ threats which originated from their leaders’ order of 27th April 2021 and their subsequent threats and use of physical and verbal violence such as issuance of a five-day pre poll sit-at-home order have inflicted the civil population especially voters with ‘intensive’ and ‘extensive’ fears and apprehensions; the killer attitudes of the security forces including laying siege or militarization of the electoral and other civil spaces, killings and burning of citizens’ properties and harassments and brutalities have also worsened and escalated the tensions and fears especially among members of the voting population. The violent deployment of estimated 150,000 military and policing personnel to man the Nov 6 Anambra Governorship Poll is a grand design to scare away and outnumber voters and provide Federal Government a field day to rig brazenly.

Nov 6 As “Crossover” Date For The Riggers

It is no longer hidden that the Federal Government of Nigeria and its preferred candidate in the Nov 6 Governorship Poll have nick-named Nov 6 2021 as their “day of crossover”. In other words, it is a day for the formalization of the already rigged poll and pronouncement of their anointed candidate as “the Anambra Governor-Elect”. It is also a day their massively procured and uploaded PVCs and thump-printed ballot papers will be ‘crossed over and authenticated’. This also explains a harvest of decampment to the Federal Government’s Party as most of the decampees acted based on remotely supplied intelligence from the Establishment. This is more so when INEC has also long established itself as ‘Government’s rigging tool’. A clear case in point was the 2019 General Elections. The Commission has also adamantly refused to digitalize voting and computerizing the country’s entire electoral process. It is aclear evidence that the troubles troubling the State and its electoral spaces presently would have been a past tense had INEC digitalized voting in the State including electronic voting.

Background Of Riggers’ Journey Into Anambra’s Nov 6 Poll

The riggers’ journey into Anambra’s Nov 6 Governorship Poll was started with their writing and perfection of the Federal Government Party’s Governorship primaries’ and its concocted results with a stunning figure of “230,201 votes” awarded to their candidate out of total of “348,490 votes”. In reality, the figure almost matched the outgoing Governor’s second term results of 234,071 votes out of total valid votes cast of 422,314. The shambolic Federal Government Party’s primaries’ results also outnumbered the combined membership numerical strengths of APC, APGA and PDP in the State. This is more so when in the Federal Government Party’s Governorship primaries of 2017, the winner polled 2,146 votes out of total votes of 5,430. Therefore, to ensure massive and scientific rigging of the Nov 6 2021 Governorship Poll, the INEC’s ICT Department was compromised, just as it was the case in the run up to the November 18 2017 Governorship Poll. The appointment of one “Nwafor” as its Director then was widely believed to have been influenced by a major player in the Federal Government’s Party who is also a key player in the Nov 6 Poll. Today, the independence and sincerity of the INEC’s ICT Department with respect to the Nov 6 2021 Anambra Governorship Poll are seriously in doubt and questionable

Rigging Of Anambra’s Nov 6 Poll Already Perfected And Waiting For “Crossover”

The Anambra Governorship Poll of Nov 6 2021 has already been rigged, waiting to be perfected on Nov 6 (date for crossover). The rigging was done by effecting massive uploading of procured PVCs in their tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands and having them uploaded and stored at INEC’s secret ICT servers waiting to upload them as “validly cast votes” on Nov 6 Anambra Governorship Poll.

This was also the case in 2017 when INEC laughably declared that “8,540 voters were accredited but could not vote” and contrary evidence later showed that the number was a leftover of the criminally uploaded procured PVCs that missed being criminally thump-printed or captured as fake thump-printed ballot papers. In the case of the Nov 6 Poll, INEC agents working for the Federal Government Party have long been reported to have perfected both scientific (uploading of procured PVCs as validly cast votes) and manual version of the rigging using PVCs, by clandestinely releasing ballot papers possibly through INEC’s Imo facilities to the hired and quartered thump-printers who were reported to have thump-printed them in secret quarters according to location of polling booths and aggregate number of votes required for the rigging. They are also crookedly in the know of locations of the State’s 5,720 polling booths, the number of the registered voters and the number of them bearing PVCs.

Exposing Riggers’ Plan “B” In Place Of Plan “A”, If Failed

The riggers have also devised and mapped out “Plan B” which is massive vote-buying with estimated sum of not less than N5b or more. Apart from huge sums clandestinely mapped out by the Federal Government Party for rigging the Nov 6 Poll through massive vote buying, its new decampees are also reported to have been given matching orders tagged: “operations deliver your ward/constituency by all means”. Therefore, in the Nov 6 2021 Anambra Governorship Poll, there shall be massive vote canvassing and buying and heavy monetary inducements of INEC’s adhoc staffers including NYSC corpers and others as well as security personnel drafted to polling units and their field leaders.

Part B

How To Stop The Riggers And Forestall Their “Crossover” Loads Into INEC Strong Rooms

To credibly win the Nov 6 2021 Anambra Governorship Election and stop the riggers and forestall their “crossover loads” into compromised INEC’s strong rooms are achievable and do not require a rocket science. And to achieve these, the following steps or actions must be carried out to the letter by the apostles of credible elections including conscientious political parties, their candidates and agents and independent monitors.

Assembling dedicated and trusted party agents and poll monitors: these are needed to man all the polling units across the State with others positioned to monitor those 86 polling units where INEC said election will not take place. Training and digitalization: This involves use of technology which must play a lead role in monitoring the Poll and collection of result sheets (i.e. FormEC8As) and it further includes capturing their biodata such as photographs and phone numbers and having them in a database and giving them basic trainings as well as having them horizontally and vertically coordinated by trained technologists at polling booths and LGA, Senatorial and State Levels.

Riggers/Rigging Can Be Checkmated Using Polling Units’ FormEC8As

Use of INEC/Polling Units’ FormEC8As are the most effective way of checkmating poll rigging in Nigeria especially in Anambra State. Peter Obi’s electoral court victories of August 2005 and March 2006 were hinged on same and in the Nov 6 Governorship Poll, FormEC8As can serve as a major anti poll rigging weapon available if well and timely used.

That is to say that conscientious political parties, their candidates, campaign councils and agents as well as credible independent poll monitors must prevail on INEC through direct interactions or letters, intellectual threats, media releases/conferences and follow the Commission bumper to bumper to ensure that the result sheets/Forms are timely made available and simultaneously deployed along with ballot papers in all the polling units where the Election is to be held. Also voting and counting of results must not be allowed until their result sheet storage forms are timely made available. For general understanding, INEC’s FormEC8As are result sheets storage forms emanating from each polling unit where results are entered and signed by designated party agents, INEC officers and security personnel and whereby each of the signees is mandatorily entitled to a copy. It is from INEC’s FormEC8As emanating from polling units that INEC’s total results are congregated, aggregated and announced or declared.

Reject Hoarding Of INEC’s FormEC8As

It is rested upon conscientious political parties, their candidates, campaign councils and agents as well as credible independent poll monitors to ensure and insist on the availability of the forms and strong resistance to hoarding of same (FormEC8As) in all the polling units where the Poll is to be held. Trained party agents must be instructed to upload their obtained and pluralistically signed FormEC8As from all the polling units in record time at their central servers as well as manually making them available to their supervisors and other superiors. This will enable the parties, their candidates and agents and credible independent monitors to foil any attempt by compromised INEC or its procured agents to replace what is obtainable at the polling units with the “crossover loaded rigged results”.

Watch Out For Sponsored Violence And Criminal Cancellations

Conscientious political parties, their candidates, campaign councils and agents as well as credible independent poll monitors must watch out for sponsored state and non state actor violence and criminal poll cancellations. This is also where the “scavenger-candidates” are waiting to cash in so as to be declared ‘winner’ by tainted INEC officers or compromised Judges of electoral courts. The apostles of credible elections named above must therefore be mindful of this and act timely and proactively so as to thwart it.

FormEC8As Checkmated Nov 6 Poll Will Produce 300,000-500,000 Total Votes Cast

Going by sponsored tensions and fears inflicted on Majority of Anambra voters, the Nov 6 Governorship Poll, if properly checkmated using credible FormEC8As will produce between 300,000 and 500,000 total votes cast from which a winner will emerge. This is to guide against plans by compromised INEC to concoct and dish out stunning and shocking figures of “1.5m votes” as “total votes cast” and “over one million votes” as “total votes scored by the winner and Anambra Governor-Elect”. This was exactly the case in the massively rigged polls of 19th April 2003 and 14th April 2007.

Contacts: Mobile/WhatsApp: +2348100098016, Email: info@intersociety-ng.org, Website: intersociety-ng.org