The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Anambra Police Command confirmed on Monday that they are prepared for the state’s November 8 gubernatorial election and August 16 senatorial bye-election. The statement was made in a separate interview by the state’s INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Elizabeth Agwu, and the state’s Commissioner of Police, Ikioye Orutugu.
Orutugu claims that in order to guarantee trouble-free elections in the state, the police have been meeting with the INEC and other security organizations. He urged for greater assistance to let the police officers to carry out their responsibilities more effectively and praised Governor Chukwuma Soludo and Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun for helping the command protect the state.
The Commission was prepared for the elections, according to the state REC, which also stated that the Continuous Voter Registration campaign, which started on July 8, was only for the gubernatorial election and not for the senatorial bye-election. She said that the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) will start on July 17 and run from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm every day.
The electoral commissioner encouraged all eligible voters in the state to come out in large numbers to register again or update their biodata. As part of INEC’s preparations for the governorship election, Agwu stated that registrations made outside of authorized hours would not be accepted. He also mentioned that ad hoc committee training was completed.
According to her, voters will utilize their current Permanent Voters Cards in the bye-election, and a separate nationwide CVR will start right away to get ready for the general elections in 2027. Agwu added that 300 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System scanners had been set up by INEC for the governorship poll on November 8.
“Fresh registration must be done physically at INEC designated office, while data revalidation or corrections can be done online. The commission will not register anybody in absentia.
“In this regard we have finalised arrangements with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for the deployment of corps members as ad hoc staff. INEC is not collecting money from anyone. Please do not pay anyone to be registered and do not attempt to register for anyone.
“We have conducted sensitization programmes for stakeholders in Anambra state as required by the Electoral Act,” she stated.
