Politics
Ezeife Tasks Youths On Anambra Poll
Former Governor of Anambra State, Chukwu-emeka Ezeife, has appealed to youths to participate actively in the governorship election in the state, scheduled for 2021.
Ezeife made the appeal on Saturday in Abuja when a group under the aegis of Anambra Youth Diaspora Initiative, FCT (Abuja) branch presented a certificate to adopt him, as the grand patron of the group.
Ezeife, who identified the role of youths as critical in deciding who becomes governor of Anambra in 2021, tasked them to avoid being intimidated or influenced against their desired choice. The tenure of the incumbent governor, Mr Willie Obiano who was sworn in for a second term in office on March 17, 2018 ends in 2021.
“Please, whoever gives you money, collect it as long as you vote according to your conscience, nothing will happen to you. “Even if the politician likes, let him place three caskets for you but as long as you follow your conscience in voting, nothing will happen to you. “I want you as youths to resolve to affect the outcome of governorship election in Anambra,’’ Ezeife said.
The former governor, however, urged the youths to support leaders in the state with a view to contributing in moving the state forward.
“I want to beg you to support the leaders; you can write a memo from here and say you are proud of Anambra and bring to the notice of the leadership about areas that need the attention of the government.
“This is simply because the leaders are not God and cannot know it all. “Before we blame anybody, let us be sure they have the right information.’’
Ezeife said. He further urged them to remain focused in their endeavours and law abiding wherever they reside as well as committed to the course of moving the Igbo race and the country forward. “You must be a member of your town union and a member of Igbo community where you reside.
“I pray God to prosper you in all your endeavours and let everyone know that God wants to use the Igbo to lift the black race across the world. “If you follow international developments you will observe that our children are making waves in the frontiers of technology in foreign lands,’’
Ezeife said. Earlier, the President of the group, Mr Augustine Udoba, said that adopting Ezeife as the grand patron of the group was necessitated by the need to appreciate him as their role model and a leader who directs the footsteps of the younger generation positively.
Udoba assured that members of the groups would remain united and committed to the ideals of Anambra and contribute to the development of the state and the country.
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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