Recently, tension escalated early Saturday morning at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) secretariat in Ihiala Local Government Area, as policemen allegedly fired tear gas canisters indiscriminately, injuring a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member and an election observer from Yiaga Africa.
The incident occurred hours before the commencement of the Anambra State 2025 governorship election.
Eyewitness reports conveyed that the police officers involved appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and began shooting tear gas canisters without provocation around the INEC office premises. This sudden and chaotic action forced ad-hoc staff, election observers, corps members, and INEC officials to scatter in panic for their safety.
“The policemen started shooting teargas canisters this early morning, disturbing INEC officials, corps members, and observers preparing for the election,” one witness revealed.
The incident reportedly began when a NYSC member approached the police officers to question their actions. Rather than receiving a response, the officers allegedly reacted violently, attacking the corps member and others present with stones and chairs. The attack resulted in one of the stones shattering a window glass and injuring an election observer affiliated with Yiaga Africa.
“When the corps member asked why they were shooting teargas this early morning creating undue tension, they pounced on him, throwing stones and chairs. One of the stones hit a window glass, injuring an election observer from Yiaga Africa,” an eyewitness said.
The chaotic development disrupted the final preparations for the election within the INEC premises, sending officials fleeing for safety and throwing the logistics into disarray.
In response to queries about the situation, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Tochukwu Ikenga, acknowledged the incident but maintained that it had been “resolved.” He sought to downplay the severity by attributing the disturbance to a “rift between persons.”
According to him, “I just spoke with the election CP in Ihiala, he said that the matter has been resolved. It is a kind of rift between persons in that place, I think it is the election observers and some of the INEC ad-hoc staff. You know some of the ad-hoc staff sometimes are overzealous. So they were trying to tell people to go back and policemen were trying to manage the whole thing.”
Meanwhile, at Polling Unit 001 located at St. John Primary School in Fegge Ward 5, INEC officials and ad-hoc staff reported an additional challenge. Despite arriving early and completing the election setup around 8:00 a.m., they were unable to commence accreditation and voting due to persistent malfunction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
Therefore, Samuel Obiora, the Presiding Officer at the unit, said that, “We got here around 8 a.m. and set up, but we have been unable to do anything for almost two hours. The RAC tech has been here to check the BVAS, and he promised to bring another BVAS.”
As of 10:01 a.m., the voting process had yet to start at the location, with residents expressing frustration and disappointment over what they described as inadequate preparation on the part of INEC, despite repeated assurances of technical readiness.
This unsettling series of events underlines critical concerns about election security and operational preparedness in the run-up to the Anambra governorship election, potentially threatening the peaceful conduct of the poll.
