The Resident Electoral Commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission in Anambra State, Dr Elizabeth Agwu, has pledged to ensure credible elections in the state, claiming that she has made the electoral process unpurchasable for politicians over the last three years.
Agwu further stated that she had successfully overseen free, fair, and credible elections in the state during her tenure.
She made these remarks during a two-day stakeholders’ dialogue engagement organised by the International Press Centre in Awka on Thursday and Friday. The theme of the dialogue was, ‘Rebuilding Trust in the Electoral Process and Elections,’ aimed at fostering insightful discussions among key election and democratic governance stakeholders.
The dialogue came ahead of the forthcoming by-election in the Anambra South Senatorial District and the November 8, 2025, governorship election.
Agwu said, “Everybody in Anambra who knows me knows that I am a working REC. I have supervised three elections here. It is in Anambra that every politician who has money tries to buy elections, but they could not because I made it unpurchasable. I told the politicians, if you feel you are strong and rich and want to buy the election, you have to give me N3 billion. Out of it, I will give N1 billion to my staff and take N1 billion to enjoy myself on a Caribbean Island.”
She continued, “Because no one could pay me that money, I was allowed to conduct the elections, and these politicians failed. I told the people of Anambra that their votes would count and urged them to stop selling their PVCs. Selling PVCs is shooting ourselves in the leg, as that is what will be used to vote.”
The REC praised Anambra as the state with the highest distribution of PVCs in the country, a project she initiated to serve her people.
“We at INEC have our job clearly spelt out in the Nigerian constitution without any external influence. However, politicians often try to influence us to act according to their wishes,” she stated.
Agwu recounted an incident during the last election where a mother, who was a Supervisory Polling Officer, sold a voter’s register, voter’s cards, and result sheets to political parties. She lamented that it was too late to address this issue, leading to a repeat election in February.
Speaking on the upcoming by-election in Anambra South Senatorial District and the November 8, 2025, governorship election, Agwu assured that INEC was fully prepared to conduct the elections credibly and transparently.
She disclosed that the Senate had not yet notified INEC of the death of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, which would allow the commission to proceed with the by-election.
Agwu also urged Anambra residents, especially politicians, to adhere to the rules as the state prepares for the 2025 governorship election, assuring them that INEC would ensure their votes count.
Earlier, the lead speaker at the event, Dr Nwachukwu Orji, a former INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Anambra and a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, expressed a vote of no confidence in the commission.
Orji criticised the acceptability of vote buying and other unprofessional conduct by INEC officials, which he claimed had eroded trust in the commission. He noted that the decline of the electoral process started in the 2015 general elections and worsened in the 2023 exercise, with INEC losing its integrity due to the unprofessional conduct of some officials.
In his welcome address, Mr Lanre Arogundade, Executive Director of the International Press Centre, explained that the stakeholder’s dialogue aimed to rebuild public trust, deepen commitments to a collaborative electoral process, and prepare INEC for the 2025 governorship election and the 2027 elections.
“This event is designed to address and mitigate negative perceptions about elections in Nigeria, rebuild public trust, and galvanise the support of critical stakeholders as partners with INEC in enhancing credible elections,” Arogundade added.
