Anambra 2013: Police arrest 100 ‘imported’ voters

In a bid to curb electoral malpractice in the state, the Anambra State Police Command has apprehended more than a 100 people suspected to be “imported voters”


The suspects, according to the police, were brought in from Lagos, Plateau and other parts of the country to register as voters in Anambra State in the ongoing voters re-validation exercise.

Their fraudulent mission however suffered a setback as they were arrested yesterday and detained by the police.

According to reports, the police also arrested two Independent National Electoral Commission ad hoc staff who were the registration and assistant registration officers for Unit 013, Ovala Square, Igbariam. They are National Youth Service Corps members recruited to register voters during the revalidation exercise.

The police also impounded two luxurious buses that were used to bring the arrested voters from Lagos and Jos for the exercise. INEC had last week disclosed that there w ere 93,000 fake voters in Anambra State.

The ‘imported voters,’ who were arrested at Igbariam, Anambra East Local Government Area said they had been mobilised and brought in to register by the Ifeanyi Ubah Fan Club, a political group made up of the supporters of Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah, one of the governorship aspirants for the November 16 election in the state.

One of the detainees, Mr. Bonaventure Ofieli, who said he was a trader based in Jos, said the Ifeanyi Ubah Fan Club in Jos had provided them with the fund for their trip to Anambra State to register for the election. He said he hailed from Ozubulu in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Ubah is a governorship aspirant of the Labour Party. The party is due to hold its primaries on Wednesday in Awka, the Anambra State capital.

But the Director-General of the Ifeanyi Ubah Campaign Organisation, Chief Dan Ulasi, criticised the arrest of the voters, saying there was nothing wrong in mobilising registered voters to come home to vote.

He said the innocent citizens were being unnecessarily punished for offering to obey a national call to exercise their franchise.

He said the organisation might go to court to seek remedy for the detained persons.

The Chairman of Anambra East Local Government, Mr. Chinedu Obidigwe, said his attention had been drawn to the registration unit in front of the palace of the traditional ruler of Igbariam, Igwe N.N. Kelly by locals, who claimed to have noticed strange faces about to get registered.

He said on getting to the unit, he interviewed the strangers, who admitted that they were brought in to register as voters but that they were not residing in the area.