By Charles Igbo
The candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, seems set to be the next Governor of Anambra State after incumbent Chief Willie Obiano who backed him to the hilt.
Soludo, 61, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, is leading by a wide margin in the results so far declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Amid fears and anxiety, INEC pulled off a peaceful exercise, taking all by surprise. The election had been threatened by violence, which dogged it weeks to the date.
Soludo had slogged it out in a competitive election with 17 others, but especially, with Senator Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Chief Valentine Ozigbo of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
The election which witnessed an appreciable crowd, considering the security situation in the State, started with hitches here and there. There were delays in some areas, and the voting machine malfunctioned in a couple of other areas.
At Soludo’s voting center, he was frustrated as he was unable to vote for hours due to the malfunctioning of the machine. He angrily condemned the situation, but was able to vote at about 5.00pm.
Out of the eleven of Anambra’s 21 Local Government Areas which results have so far been declared, the APGA candidate has won 10 of them in a landslide, almost.
The Local Government Areas include:
*Awka South
*Aguata
*Anaocha
*Orumba South
*Orumba North
*Njikoka
*Anambra East.
Incidentally, the three major candidates come from same LGA, Aguata, but Soludo carried the day.
The candidate of the YPP, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, won in his LGA, Nnewi North.
More results are expected within hours.
Meanwhile, the APC has called for a cancellation of the Anambra Governorship election.
At a press conference addressed by its Chairman, Chief Basil Ejidike, the party said the election was fraught with fraud allegedly perpetrated by Governor Obiano and INEC. It claimed that the people voted for Senator Andy Uba, as they desired an APC Government in the State.
Ejidike: “What is happening in Anambra is never an election but big time electoral fraud and malpractice. We want the whole world to hear our voice that we will never accept the outcome of the Anambra Gubernatorial election.
“The candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and the sitting Governor Willie Obiano manipulated the whole electoral system and we’ll stand to resist it.
“Ndi Anambra wants an APC Governor and there’s nothing anyone can do to deny them that opportunity. We virtually won in all the local government but Willie Obiano and Charles Soludo through instrumentality corrupt minded INEC officers subverted the whole process in favour of APGA.
“We want INEC to cancel the election and fix a date for a fresh election devoid of manipulations and malpractices. But if INEC goes ahead to announce the results, we will definitely challenge the election process at the court of law, up-to Supreme Court. Nobody can intimidate us.”
Incidentally, the Anambra State Government, on the eve of the election, had issued a statement, signed by its Commissioner for Information, C. Don Adinuba, to the effect that the APC had colluded with INEC, and already written the results of 10 LGAs in favour of APC.
