AfriPulse
Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo has been re-elected as governor of the state for a second term.
Soludo, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) won in all the 21 local government areas of the state in the governorship election that held on Saturday.
INEC ’s Returning Officer, Prof, Edoba Omoregie (SAN) who declared the results stated that Soludo, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) secured a total of 422,664 votes to beat other contestants.
He declared other results as follows: APC – 99,445; YPP 37,753 ; LP -10,576; ADC – 8208; PDP – 1401; AA -1145; AAC – 292 and ZLP 453 among others.
He stated that a total of 27,888,64 registered voters while 598,229 were accredited for the election. He added that the total votes cast in the election were 595,298 votes while a total of 584,054 votes were valid and 11,244 votes were rejected.
He declared: “As the Returning Officer for this election, I hereby declare that Soludo Charles Chukwuma of the APGA, having satisfied the requirements of the law scoring the highest numbers of votes has been declared the winner and returned elected.”
The National Chairman of APGA, Barr. Sylvester Ezeokenwa, who served as the party’s agent expressed satisfaction with the victory of Governor Soludo.
Ezeokenwa on Saturday had expressed confidence in the conduct of the Anambra governorship election, describing the process as largely peaceful and credible despite isolated cases of technical and logistical challenges.
Speaking with journalists at Immaculate Parish Ward 4, Ezeokenwa said the election had been “seamless, except for a few polling units where the BVAS machines malfunctioned.”
He noted that INEC had already deployed technical teams to resolve the issues. The APGA National Chairman also confirmed that reports of missing result sheets in some polling units were promptly addressed.
“I must commend our APGA agents across the state; they have lived up to expectations. We trained them on the basic requirements to perform their responsibilities effectively,” he said.
Ezeokenwa praised INEC officials for their professionalism and commitment to delivering a smooth and transparent exercise, stressing that APGA’s only demand was a free, fair, and credible poll.
On voter turnout, the APGA chairman did acknowledge that participation was indeed relatively low but consistent with historical patterns in the state.
“There was fear that people might not come out, but Governor Charles Soludo encouraged the electorate to vote. Historically, Anambra records around 20 percent turnout. If you go around, you will see that it is just about the same today,” he noted.
Source: Guardian Nigeria | Read the Full Story…
