BY ENYIM ENYIM, ONITSHA

Ahead of the March 28 general election, the speaker of the Anambra state House of Assembly, princess Chinwe Nwaebili yesterday called on the federal government to beef up security to checkmate any form of violence during the poll. Nwaebili’s call followed the postponement of the election earlier scheduled for February 14 on account of alleged insecurity in some parts of the northern states.

” I am calling on the federal government to beef up security before and during the general election. We have to be alive to contest election and the electorate have to be alive to vote for candidates of their choice”.

She said the postponement of the election was costing candidates double the amount budgeted for their campaigns and appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a free, fair and credible election.

Nwaebili who advised parents not to allow their children to be used by politicians to cause violence during the election appealed to her colleagues to play the game according to the rule. She urged the INEC and various state governments to carry its voter education to the churches, schools and other strategic places to enable the electorate vote correctly.

The speaker denied allegation by her opponent in the APC, Mr Afam Ogene that she sent thugs to beat a 72 year old man, saying that she was not in the state when the said incident happened. She wondered why his father who is the traditional ruler in Ogbaru should also be accused of being responsible for the beating and arrest of the old man who is not only a family member but a cabinet  member of the of the traditional ruler.

The incident should be seen as a normal family squabble which can be settled amicably within the family. Rather, the man with the penchant for mounting the fence had already pumped in thousands of naira to give it a national outlook. He is already politicizing the issue in order to curry the sympathy of Ogbaru voters to himself even when he knows that he has no grassroots’ support and popularity to do so; hence he has lost grip of the entire constituency.

When does the extensive publicity Afam Ogene gave to the incident become an alternative to democracy dividends he failed to attract to Ogbaru during his wasted four years in office?