The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Friday admitted that it did not meet the expectations of Nigerians in the conduct of the November 16 governorship election in Anambra State though it did its best to ensure it was credible.

The Commission also fixed November 30 for the supplementary election, saying no convincing reason had been given for the cancellation of the poll.

However, three main contenders in the election, Chris Ngige of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Tony Nwoye of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Ifeanyi Ubah of the Labour Party, LP, hinted on Friday night in a television interview that they might boycott the supplementary election.

The APC in a statement also said it would boycott the supplementary election.

The INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega, at a press conference in Abuja, said though the Commission was determined to make the Anambra governorship election the best so far conducted in the country and had prepared for it more than the previous elections, it regretted that its operational performance could not satisfy Nigerians.

“No doubt that INEC’s operational performance in that election has not met the expectations of Nigerians. We regret shattering the expectations of Nigerians, but we did our best in the circumstances to have free, fair and credible election,” Mr. Jega stated.

The INEC chairman said the Commission met with its senior management officers who supervised the election, during which they reviewed the conduct of the election and analysed information received from participants.

According to him, the meeting examined all the accusations and allegations that were made and came to the conclusion that in spite of minor and unfortunate challenges in the field, there was no substantial evidence to support the outright cancellation of the election as being demanded by some of the candidates and parties.

He said the decision of the Returning Officer in the election of the need to do a supplementary election was “correct,” since there was substantial compliance with the electoral laws, adding, “Therefore we have decided that the supplementary election will hold in Anambra State on Saturday November 30.”

Mr. Jega regretted logistical challenges, especially the late arrival of materials, saying that the commission did all it could to make the election the best but “it did not turn out to be the best INEC has conducted so far.”

He explained that the Commission did a thorough estimate of the number of vehicles needed for the poll and provided adequately for it.

He denied claims that some voters were deliberately disenfranchised during the election, insisting that it was not enough reason to be used to cancel the election.

According to him, those who could not vote might have been involved in multiple registrations or did not take advantage of continuing voter registration to renew their registration.

“This is regrettable given INEC’s efforts in cleaning up the register and make it much more credible,” Mr. Jega said. “I want to remind us that before the election, the Commission met with Chairmen and secretaries of all registered parties, who came with their candidates.

“We briefed them adequately on the register. We told them how the number of candidates had come down from about 1.8million to 1.7 million. We briefed them on the efforts we were making and that in Anambra election, there will be no need for addendum register.

“From our assessment on the allegation of disenfranchisement, we believe that a substantial overwhelming majority of them must have been either people who had done multiple registrations or did not take advantage of the continuing voter registration.”

Mr. Jega said the challenge was for the political parties making the allegation to prove that there was disenfranchisement based on the voter register, stressing that “the issue of disenfranchisement cannot be used to cancel the election or do a fresh election.”

The INEC chairman said the only difference between the register release to the parties 30 days before the election and the one eventually used, was age, which “we explained to the stakeholders and they did not complain about.”

Mr. Jega insisted that the 183 people arrested by the Imo Police Command on their way to Anambra State were not accredited observers, adding that they were already being prosecuted. He said that unlike the previous election, the process of accreditation for the Anambra election was rigorous.

He gave the name of the INEC official arrested in Idemili North LGA as Chukwujekwu Okeke, even as he stated that it was unfair to accuse INEC of hiding the identity of the officer. He assured that if the Commission found any of its staff culpable in undermining the election, such staff would not go unpunished.

He urged the political parties and their candidates to cooperate with the Commission in order to conclude the election on Saturday.

“I regret to say that in spite of our best intentions as human beings to make the election the best we get disappointed. As much as Nigerians were disappointed with the result, we are also disappointed with the result. We wanted the election to be the best.

“We ask all stakeholders to cooperate with us. We are not making excuses. I must say that making elections peaceful and credible is a joint effort of INEC and stakeholders.”

Mr. Jega confirmed that the Commission was attending to the petition by the All Progressives Congress, APC, which he said was received on Thursday.

He however said that the petition merely repeated all the allegations already made by its candidate in the election, Chris Ngige.

“Some of them (allegations) we have thoroughly investigated,” he added, pointing out that if the purpose of the petition was to convince the Commission to cancel the election, it would not do so because there was no strong evidence marshal