Anambrans go to the polls to elect governor amid tension and Ipob's call for a boycott

TENSION is rife across Anambra State today as the electorate go to the polls to elect a new governor amid fears that there was a bomb blast in the commercial capital Onitsha yesterday afternoon.

In what is expected to be a very tense exercise, Anambrans are electing a new governor against a background whereby secessionist group the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) are calling for a boycott of the polls. Campaigning for the recreation of the defunct Republic of Biafra, Ipob has called for Anambrans not to vote unless the federal government offers them a referendum on secession.

However, political leaders have condemned the Ipob stance and the federal government has flooded the state with troops and security operatives to forestall and trouble. Some Anambra residents expressed their readiness to vote while many others pointed out that they had their reasons to be afraid that the exercise could be marred by violence.

Ifeanyi Ogockukwu, from Ihiala Local Government Area said: “I will remain indoors until I notice that everywhere is calm because I do not know what it will look like. However, I will come out and vote when everywhere is calm.

"I advise others to also come out and vote for the candidate of their choice. They should not sell their votes for anything.”

Joshak Habila, the deputy inspector general of police in charge of operations, dismissed the threat by Ipob, however, insisting that the voters should come out and exercise their franchise without fear. This is as Ipob said it had uncovered a plot by Nigerian security agencies to link it to series of bomb blasts that would occur during the elections.

Ipob spokesman Emma Powerful, claimed that the security agencies, particularly the army, police and the Department of State Services (DSS), had planted explosive devices at strategic places in the state, waiting to set them off during the election. He explained that Ipob would be blamed for the explosions, adding that the alleged plot was meant to justify the federal government’s claim that the group was a terrorist organisation.

Mr Powerful said: “We gather that the Nigerian military is now planting explosive devices in all strategic places in Anambra State to justify their evil plan against the people of Biafra. The Nigerian government and her security operatives especially, the Nigerian Army and police, including the DSS, have lost the bid to label Ipob a terrorist organisation among the civilised nations, so, they have resorted to crude evidence-planting as they did with their so-called imported double-barrelled hunting guns at Apapa Wharf.

“Chief of army staff, General Buratai and his military hierarchy are desperately using every and any available strategy to justify their actions against Ipob family members in Biafraland particularly in Anambra State because of our boycott threat. Every man,  woman and child should remain indoors because Nigerian security operatives have planted military-grade explosives at key locations in Anambra State to kill and maim as many people as possible."

Yesterday, there was a bomb scare in Onitsha with two high calibre improvised explosive devices discovered near the Onitsha North Local Government Area Police Station. However, it is believed that the police anti-bomb squad averted the explosion by demobilising the IEDs.