Andy Uba is the candidate of APC in Saturday’s tightly contested election where it is difficult to predict a winner
By Chibuzor Nwachukwu
The headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (IÑEC) in Anambra State is wearing the look of a military cantonment following heavy security presence from the road to the facility and inside the compound.
Concrete drums totalling over30 were used to block commuters and pedestrians from passing through the entrance of the Commission’s headquarters with armoured tanks and heavy-duty trucks taking strategic positions ahead of the election on Saturday.
This is coming as there are apprehensions at several quarters that fake policemen on uniform have been deployed to manipulate the exercise.
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Deepening the anxiety is the release of sensitive materials for the election which is now under the custody of the commission and it is being feared that the fake policemen and fake INEC staff have infiltrated the areas with fake sensitive materials.
Also, INEC collation centres in Ogidi and Abagana in Ihiala, Njikoka, Nnewi North and Idemili North local government areas also have heavy security formations as they are major flashpoints at every election in the state.
When contacted, the Head of Police media for the election, DSP Nkiru Nwude, said there was nothing like fake policemen on uniform adding that the Inspector General of Police and the force headquarters had already accredited officers and men that would work during the election.
She also said that measures had been put in place to identify fake policemen.
Nwude further explained that the security beef-ups were a normal routine at every election in the country to avert any attempt to manipulate the process.
Similarly, All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairmen in some local government areas have raised alarm over threat to their lives for challenging the candidacy of Senator Andy Uba who they claimed didn’t win the primary election.
Already, 20 ward Chairmen from Aguata local government area where Andy Uba comes from, as well as Uga ward 1 and 2 have defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), including 17 ward chairmen from Orumba North and South Senatorial Districts.
Leading the defectors, the chairman of APC in Aguata local government area, Paul Chuks Umenduka, who recently joined the PDP with his supporters, told reporters on Friday that their lives were being threatened.
“We are pioneer members of the APC from AC to ACN down to the APC and we built the party from the scratch but Senator Andy Uba came into the party from PDP and hijacked the party structure and that was what happened in the 2019 National Assembly elections.
“The party leadership appealed to us to remain in the party and we accepted and today Andy Uba did a similar thing, so we have to leave the party for good.
“Now, they have started to threaten our lives and we have been receiving phone calls from suspected cronies of Senator Andy Uba and our lives are in danger. We are making it public for people to know before it is late and be it known to all and sundry that Senator Andy Uba is desperate and our people should be vigilant,” they said.
In his reaction, the state APC chairman, Chief Basil Ejidike, dismissed the allegations contending that the party’s decision was supreme and cannot be challenged.
“Those complaining of threat to their lives are not saying the truth because our party is law-abiding and cannot reduce itself to chasing shadows over those that defected to another party,” he said.