ELECTION: Police to declare curfew Friday as Police, politicians express readiness for election

The police in Anambra State has said that on Friday at exactly mid night, all movement is expected to stop the police commissioner in the state, Mr Hoseah Karma has said.

The police advised all who will be voting in far away laces to travel on Fridday to such places as they will not be allowed to move on major roads once it is midnight.

The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), the police and other security agencies, and politicians in Anambra State have expressed readiness for Saturday election.

In a stakeholders forum held yesterday at the Women’s Development Centre in Awka, all the parties involved pledged their readiness to abide by the rules of the election, eschew violence and comport themselves in manner that will help the commission to achieve a credible election.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Anambra State, Engr Edwin Nwatarali told participants which also included leaders of the towns in the state and their traditiional rulers that INEC was set to conduct elections that will be  a reference point in the history of elections, and was seeking the cooperation of all stakholders to be able to carry the task.

He said that INEC in Anambra State has achieved 91 percent distribution of the PVC, and that Wednesday, the commission is expecting the last batch of outstanding PVCs, which will be distributed until Thursday evening.

Nwatarali said the commission has concluded that there is no going back on the use of the smart card readers in the conduct of the election as there are key to the succeess of the election.

Anambra State commissioner of police, Mr Hoseah Karma who represented security agencies at the forum said there is a new synergy between all the security agencies, and that there will be the availability of all security agencies in all the polling units in the state.

“In all the polling centers  in the state, there will be the presence of all security forces, and  if you have no business at the polling centres, then you better not come there.

“Though you have been told by the parties to vote, stay back and protect your votes, but we are saying that it is better for you to vote and go back to your house, but if you must stay to observe how voting will go, then that must be 300metres away from the polling centres.”

On their part, representatives of political partioes in the state who took time to seek clearifications on grey areas, aggreed to abide by the code of conduct, and also pledging to help ensure the transparency of the election by eschewing violence.

The leader of the Progressive Peoples Party in Anambra State, Chief Godwin Ezeemo who was also at the forum in an interview with journalists commended the INEC for the introduction of the smart card readers, despite that the country’s electoral laws does not support electronic voting. This he said will go along way to help in ensuring the credibility of the election.

Ezeemo called on members of the political class, electorates, Inec officials of all cadre to work hard to ensure that the exercise ends in success. He said gthe credibility anfd transparency of the election will determine the level of development that will be witnessed in the country.