Politics
Anambra 2010: INEC Excludes PDP
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has omitted the name of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Chukwuma Soludo from the list of aspirants in obedience to the ruling of the Court of Appeal which ordered the electoral body not to recognise Soludo as PDP candidate. The party had already appealed to the Supreme Court.
Speaking at the 49th meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP, the Vice President, Mr Goodluck Jonathan told the party chieftains not to lose hope as the Supreme Court had already decided on the supremacy of political parties in the nomination of candidates in previous cases.
“We have a challenge now in terms of Anambra elections and as 2011 is moving nearer the challenges will be more because we are approaching our election. And I believe the Anambra election is another test case.
“To me, I am really worried about the Anambra election because if you look at the INEC position PDP is contesting the election. They are not saying that PDP will contest the election. The issue is that we are yet to sort out our candidate and I believe it is a classical case and all Nigerians will be watching how these things will progress.
“My conviction is that PDP will contest Anambra election. My conviction is that of course INEC cannot stop PDP from contesting the election PDP’s name is there and we have to contest that election. So nobody should be worried, nobody should be discouraged because of whatever is happening because, if you look at some kind of judgement that has been given by Supreme Court over the period, you will know that the party is supreme and the position belongs to the party and I believe that there is no way PDP will not contest the election.”
The Vice President also lampoon other political parties for being complacent during electioneering campaigns only to turn around and accuse the PDP of wrong doings after losing the election to the ruling party. He assured that the party would win the presidential election 100 times over.
“I always tell people that even if you conduct presidential election 100 times and bring angels from the moon to conduct it, PDP will still win. Because as human system, there may be some errors of flaws or perceived discrepancies in terms of the management of elections but there is no other party today that I can say has a bigger followership than the PDP.
“If politics is a factor of the people, if the number matters, there is no reason any party will say we suppose to win. Infact, immediately after the elections and whenever people come up with the feelings that PDP rigged elections I used to say look I was the governor of Bayelsa State when we contested this presidential elections and in my state though the population of Bayelsa State is low, but because it is a strategic state because of the industry of the factors Niger Delta, any party that is worth winning elections is supposed to go there and campaign.
Prof. Amupitan gave the warning on Saturday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the South-South Zonal Readiness Assessment and Interactive Staff Engagement organised ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said insecurity remained a potential challenge to the electoral process but stressed that the Commission would not allow threats against its personnel to undermine its constitutional responsibilities.
“Insecurity may pose a challenge, but our collective constitutional resolve is far stronger. Let me again send a clear message from Port Harcourt: anyone who attempts to threaten, intimidate, or harm our ad-hoc staff, NYSC members, or permanent personnel will be brought to justice under the full weight of the law,” he said.
The INEC Chairman, who was accompanied by National Commissioners, directors and technical aides, disclosed that the South-South engagement was the fifth in a series of zonal assessments, following similar exercises in the South-West, North-West, South-East and North-East.
He explained that his physical presence across the geopolitical zones reflected the Commission’s field-first approach, emphasising that electoral integrity must be established through effective operations at the grassroots.
According to him, the assessment would cover operational preparedness across the 123 Local Government Areas in the six South-South states.
On election security, Prof. Amupitan said INEC had moved away from reactive security arrangements traditionally activated around election day to a proactive, intelligence-driven framework known as the “ICCES Tentacle”.
He explained that the framework was designed to extend inter-agency security coordination from national and state headquarters to local government areas and Registration Area Centres, including remote communities.
He identified three critical pillars of the framework as mapping and mitigating security threats, protecting electoral personnel and infrastructure, and guaranteeing safe access to polling units.
The INEC boss said the security arrangement would provide comprehensive protection for electoral personnel, technological infrastructure, including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices and server infrastructure, as well as voters.
He added that the framework was intended to ensure that every polling unit, irrespective of its geographical location or history of security challenges, remained safe and accessible for the exercise of democratic rights.
Prof. Amupitan disclosed that the South-South security architecture comprised approximately 60 major operational formations, headquarters and state commands operating under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
The network, he said, brings together military, naval, air, police and other security and intelligence agencies across the six states.
“Together, this integrated multi-agency network represents the operational backbone that guarantees intelligence-led protection across every riverine creek, coastal axis, and land-based polling unit in the Niger Delta,” he stated.
Providing an overview of the region’s electoral significance, the INEC Chairman said the South-South had the fourth-largest voting bloc in the country, with 15,823,550 registered voters, representing 15.30 per cent of the national register.
Rivers State alone, he said, accounts for 3,736,434 registered voters spread across the 23 local government areas.
Alhaji Abubakar made the demand following revelations that some INEC registration officers allegedly abused their access to the voter registration system to introduce irregular records into the database.
In a statement issued by his Director of Strategic Communications, Mr Phrank Shaibu, the former vice-president described the development as a serious breach of the Commission’s internal safeguards and raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.
He urged INEC to identify the officials implicated in the alleged misconduct and explain what disciplinary or legal measures had been taken against them.
Alhaji Abubakar also called for an independent forensic audit of the preliminary voters’ register to establish the scale of the alleged manipulation, identify affected records and determine how the questionable entries were introduced into the system.
He further insisted that INEC preserve all relevant voter records, image files, system access logs and electronic audit trails to prevent the destruction or alteration of evidence before an independent examination could be conducted.
The former vice-president also demanded that the Commission disclose the identities of companies contracted to produce sensitive election materials ahead of the 2027 polls, arguing that transparency was essential to building public confidence in the electoral process.
INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, had earlier disclosed during a television interview that some registration officers across the country allegedly used their official login credentials to introduce irregularities into the voters’ database.
Dr Bayode explained that the Commission’s Automated Biometric Identification System helped identify questionable records and establish how some irregularities entered the system.
He, however, clarified that not all suspicious photographs were AI-generated, as some resulted from poor registration procedures.
The development followed public concerns over suspected AI-generated photographs, alleged duplicate entries and other inconsistencies discovered in the preliminary voters’ register published online on October 26, 2026.
INEC has maintained that the published document is a preliminary register and that it is reviewing questionable records ahead of the certification of the final Register of Voters.
The controversy has intensified calls for greater transparency and accountability in the management of the voters’ register as preparations gather momentum for the 2027 general elections.
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