By Rose Onda
The National Assembly joint committee on INEC and Electoral Matters, on Wednesday, said the Independent National Electoral Commission is free to transfer the results of Anambra State governorship election electronically.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano), stated this while briefing journalists after a meeting between the Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, and the joint panel on the November 6 election in Anambra.
Gaya said INEC could transfer the results to its server as they are announced at polling units just like what it did in Edo and Ondo states.
He said, “It is left for INEC to decide whether it will transfer the election results in Anambra or not. They have done that in the previous elections in Edo and Ondo State.
“Even before the INEC started transferring elections results from polling units, Nigerians have been monitoring results of elections the moments they are being announced at polling stations and by 4pm, even before the final results are announced, many Nigerians would have seen them on the internet.
“Nigerians are fully involved in elections. The INEC has assured us that it will go ahead with the Anambra election and declare he winner. We expect the people of the state to cooperate fully with the electoral body by being law abiding.
“The only way to achieve free and fair, credible election in Anambra is for everybody to eschew violence.”
Earlier, the INEC chairman told the committee that the commission had deployed all the non-sensitive materials to all the local government areas of the state.
He said, “We have recovered from the series of attacks on our facilities and I am happy to say that we have deployed all the non-sensitive materials to all the local government areas.
“We have trained the requisite number of adhoc staff for the election and we have also mobilised members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers for efficient distribution of materials on election day. As far as INEC is concerned, we are good to go on November 6, 2021.”