With few days to the November 18, 2017 election, the Nigerian Senate has charge the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure transparency and credibility in the conduct of the election.

Speaking during a visit of the senate Committee on INEC to the Anambra State Electoral Commissioner, the committee warned the Commission against conducting an inconclusive election.

Addressing INEC officials, chairmen and secretaries of various political parties at the INEC headquarters in Awka yesterday, Chairman of the Senate Committee, Sen. Suleiman Nazif, who spoke who spoke on behalf of the committee called on the leadership of INEC to ensure that Anambra governorship election is conclusive, free, fair and credible.

According to him, the credibility of the Anambra governorship election would serve as litmus test for the 2019 general elections.

While urging INEC to ensure level playing ground for all the political parties billed for the election, Nazif said the members were in the state to find out the challenges of INEC in respect to Saturday’s election and to put heads together with them towards proffering solutions to them.

He said: “The Commission should be neutral so that the outcome of the election is acceptable to all and all the political gladiators in the election should allow peace to reign during and after the election.

“I appeal to the gladiators in the election to ensure peace and I also urge politicians not to see the election as “do-or-die affair’.”

Nazif observed that their conduct and utterances before, during and after the poll should be guided by democratic principles.

He further gave assurance that the governorship election would hold as scheduled notwithstanding some insinuations in some quarters that it would not and called on the electorate to go out enmasse and cast their votes for their preferred candidate.

The Committee chairman while urging politicians not to engage in any action that would put them into trouble called on security operatives to ensure a peaceful atmosphere during and after the election, adding that their presence was important to the successful outcome of the poll.

Earlier in his speech, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, in the state Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji, observed that the state was second in the country in terms of the collection of permanent voters’ cards, saying that the collection of the PVC would end on the 15th of this month.

Orji who said that the Commission would be deploying one card reader machine per voting point as well as field technical officers who would handle any challenges arising from the malfunctioning of the card readers also reiterated the commitment of the Commission to conduct free, fair, credible and acceptable election to the people of the state.

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