The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, yesterday warned that any attempt to induce voters before or during the November 8 governorship election in Anambra State would be resisted and curtailed.
Speaking at the first consultative meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), Amupitan urged Nigerians-especially political actors-to unite in combating the menace of vote buying as a way of restoring integrity to the electoral process.
He said the commission was working closely with relevant law enforcement agencies, particularly the anti-graft agencies, to stop vote buyers from contaminating the electoral process.
‘Security agents cannot afford to create an environment that allows vote buyers to operate during the Anambra election,’ he said.
‘Together, let us combat vote buying, uphold the values of democracy, and work relentlessly for the credibility of our elections. The path ahead may be challenging, but if we stand united, there is nothing we cannot achieve.’
The INEC boss said that following a week-long comprehensive readiness assessment conducted across Anambra State, the commission was confident of its full preparedness for the polls.
According to him, INEC recently conducted a mock accreditation exercise in 12 selected polling units across six local government areas of the state, using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to test-run its facilities and readiness.