For the records: Text of a second press statement by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of Anambra State, Dr Nkwachukwu Orji, on the progress of the Anambra state governorship election held at the collation centre, INEC state headquarters, Awka, on Saturday 6th November 2021

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media

On behalf of the Commission, I would like to provide you an update on the ongoing Governorship election. The election has progressed generally well despite the initial challenges, which I outlined in my earlier briefing. I am glad that an appreciable number of citizens of Anambra State turned out to exercise their civic duty of choosing their next Governor, notwithstanding initial security concerns.

I am happy to report that the technical glitches we experienced with our new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) were largely solved. We thank the voters and candidates for patiently waiting for the problem with the devices to be resolved. To be sure, these may not have been resolved perfectly everywhere, but the reports we got from our field officers and independent observers convince us that most voters were able to vote with the BVAS, following the extension of voting period to 4.00pm and our regulation that any voter on the queue at that time must be allowed to vote.

As I said in my earlier briefing, any Polling Unit where there was a consistent malfunction of the BVAS, and therefore the voters in the Unit were unable to vote, the election will be continued tomorrow. We are yet to receive reports of any location where the sustained malfunction of the BVAS led to no election at all. Still, we shall continue to receive reports through our usual channels, particularly from the collation of the Form EC40G, which is the official document for recording Polling Units where elections did not hold or were cancelled.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the election is by no means over. We have now entered a critical stage of the process, namely the collation of results. We have made adequate arrangements for collation of the results at the Registration Areas, Local Government Areas and the State level. Results from Polling Units are already being uploaded to our INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal and the Registration Area and LGA collation have been progressing well. I implore all stakeholders to be patient while this painstaking process progresses.

I am glad to announce that the State Collation will commence tomorrow at the State Collation Centre here in our State Office. I invite all those who are entitled to be present – Collation Officers, accredited Polling Agents, observers and the media – to attend the State Collation, which will open at 10am tomorrow morning.

I want to thank the security agencies for the exceptionally professional way they have supported the election. I believe that they will continue to provide this first-class support throughout the rest of the process. I also thank you, the media, for the balanced way you have reported the election, particularly the early challenges.

Finally, I want to reiterate the determination and commitment of the Commission to make sure that this election is concluded satisfactorily and that every vote cast is counted and counts in the outcome. We therefore solicit patience and support of all and sundry.

Thank you.

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