The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has held a sensitization workshop for stakeholders to address violence and other challenges that could hinder the conduct of a free, fair, and credible governorship election in Anambra State on November 8, 2025.

The workshop, titled “Electoral Risk Management (ERM) Sensitization Workshop for the November 8, 2025 Anambra State Governorship Election,” took place at Geneva Hotel, Awka, on Friday.

Participants included security agencies such as the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army, Department of State Services, Nigeria Immigration Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, National Orientation Agency, Civil Society Organisations, and the media.

In her keynote address, INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of the Planning, Monitoring, and Strategy Committee, Prof. Rhoda Gumus, reaffirmed the Commission’s readiness to conduct an election that would be free, fair, credible, and acceptable to the people of Anambra State and Nigeria as a whole.

She noted that to achieve a hitch-free election, stakeholders must identify peculiar and potential challenges, understand the risk factors involved, analyse risk data, and take proactive steps to mitigate or prevent election-related risks.

Identifying insecurity as one of the major challenges to the forthcoming election, she warned that unguarded utterances by politicians and the use of inciteful hate speech further heighten tension in the political space and urged stakeholders to desist from such acts.