My fear for Anambra governorship election!

The governorship election in Anambra State is slated for Nov 6. The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) had announced that the election would not hold! As a bargaining chip, they have vowed that unless their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, under the incarceration of the Federal Government, is released unconditionally from custody on or before November 4, they would put the entire southeast on a lock down for a week, starting from November 5, that is, a day before the election! Particularly, they have warned the people of Anambra State, that for the safety of their lives, they should remain indoors for the duration of the sit-at-home order!

Knowing the efficacy of IPOB in enforcing their sit-at-home order in the past, mostly by threat of violence, this one shouldn’t be ignored! I heard the Independent National electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, in a press conference, say the election in Anambra State will go on as planned! He hinged his confidence on the report he received from the security agency in the state, particularly the state Commissioner of Police as well as the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state! These people, he said, assured him that the situation in Anambra State was conducive to hold a hitch-free election! The Chairman did not for once make any allusion to the recent threat from IPOB. Every Monday since Nnamdi was arrested, there has been no let up in the battle for supremacy in the entire region!  As a result of Monday’s sit-at-home order by IPOB, the entire southeast is always thrown into a ghost town every Monday! Those who breached the order have had to pay for it dearly. They were either shot dead or had their business premises razed down! As a result, banks, schools, markets, gas stations, etc, have learnt to shut down their premises on Mondays!

My question now is, what gives the INEC chairman the impression that voters will defy this November 5-10 sit-at-home order by IPOB and risk their lives to come and cast votes? Goodluck Jonathan had a similar challenge in 2015 when he had to delay the presidential election by six weeks in order for the Military to secure the northeast from Boko Haram and guarantee the safety of voters in that region! My advice to President Buhari is to delay this election; order the southeast governors and key leaders in the region to dialogue with Nnamdi in order to find a possible political solution to the crisis!

Meanwhile, on the next court date for Nnamdi, which is November 10, the IPOB leader should be transferred from his custody with the DSS to prison! At least that will give the IPOB the impression that the government is beginning to toe their path! I can’t say the president should let Nnamdi out on bail! They did it before but the man jumped bail and escaped from the country! Now he allowed himself to be captured like a rat and brought back to the country to face the same court trial he ran away from before! What a tragedy! A freedom fighter worth his salt has no business gallivanting around the world in designer outfits as Nnamdi was doing! Now, see the mess he has found himself…right at the mercy of the people he called zoo! Edaghese wrote from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA!