This post has already been read at least 1189 times!

Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, has secured a decisive victory in Saturday’s governorship election in the declared Local Government Areas (LGAs), with official figures showing that he led comfortably across the declared LGAs of the state.

The Street Reporters Newspaper reports that preliminary results announced in the early hours of Sunday at the State Collation Centre in Awka indicated that Soludo – candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) – posted wide margins over his rivals, securing commanding wins in every LGA where collation has been concluded.

From figures already certified by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APGA recorded tens of thousands of votes in multiple Local Government Areas, while the All Progressives Congress (APC), Young Progressives Party (YPP) and Labour Party (LP) trailed far behind. In several units, other political parties posted zero or near-zero scores.

As at press time on Sunday morning, results from 18 out of 21 LGAs had already been entered into the official INEC portal, with the Commission scheduled to reconvene for final declaration.

The contest featured 16 candidates — including two women — but operationally, only APGA and the APC made significant impressions at the polling units based on vote spread recorded across the state.

This election was the first governorship contest supervised by the new INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu barely weeks ago. The INEC boss had assured the public prior to voting that logistics, personnel deployment and security would be prompt, transparent and well coordinated.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Anambra State, Queen Elizabeth Agwu, later confirmed that early deployment of materials contributed to the smooth conduct of the exercise.

Civil society observers — including CISLAC, Yiaga Africa, CDD and the IPC — gave positive initial assessments, commending the Commission for improved logistics and crediting the security agencies for firm presence across the state. BVAS also recorded significant success, according to the observers.

However, allegations of vote-buying dominated the political exchanges between candidates. Gov. Soludo stated that he received field reports of cash-for-votes in Nnewi South running as high as N15,000 per voter. APC’s Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu levelled similar accusations against the ruling party. Labour Party’s Peter Obi also decried widespread inducement, saying some voters were paid up to N30,000 — blaming the trend on deepening economic hardship.

INEC denied knowledge of any official reports of vote-buying, but the EFCC disclosed that its personnel arrested several suspects allegedly linked to financial inducement during the polls, including individuals intercepted in Njikoka, Oyi and Dunukofia LGAs.

Security planning for the election was massive — with over 45,000 police personnel and 15,000 officers drawn from the military and paramilitary agencies deployed across Anambra, following pre-election warnings by the NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, and the IGP, Kayode Egbetokun. A Deputy Commissioner of Police in the state later revealed that the security operations were an outcome of a six-month inter-agency strategy aimed at preventing violence.

Despite the heavy security presence, voting was generally peaceful across the three senatorial districts — although Yiaga Africa noted that voter turnout was lower than expected, similar to national trends.

Anambra’s off-cycle election schedule dates back to the landmark 2006 judicial ruling that removed then-governor Chris Ngige and installed Peter Obi, creating a separate gubernatorial calendar in the state after Peter Obi won the first court case on interpretation of tenure for a Governor of a state.

With all indicators pointing toward a landslide for the incumbent, formal declaration is expected as the Commission resumes collation.

INEC’s final pronouncement is anticipated once the remaining three LGAs are added to the tally.

Below are the Results as Collated by INEC:

AYAMELUM LGA: APC-7478; APGA-13,340; YPP-470; LP-117.

AWKA NORTH: APC-3,661; APGA-15,895; YPP-815; LP-299.

ONITSHA SOUTH LGA: APC-4156; APGA-15,742; YPP-638, LP-615.

ORUMBA SOUTH LGA: APC-2,828; APGA-19,819; YPP-2,135; LP-16.

ORUMBA NORTH: APC-2615; APGA-24667; YPP-1519; LP-131.

IDEMILI NORTH LGA: APC-6383; APGA-25,498; YPP- 613; LP-1278.

NJIKOKA LGA: APC- 5,687; APGA- 22,213; YPP-1661; LP-311.

EKWUSIGO LGA: APC-2973; APGA-18,749; YPP-915; LP-194.

NNEWI NORTH LGA: APC-5441; APGA-20320; YPP-553; LP 1,140.

NNEWI SOUTH LGA: APC-9181; APGA; 17286; YPP-562.

OGBARU NORTH LGA: APC- 2768; APGA- 22,803; YPP- 468; LP-347.

ONITSHA NORTH LGA: APC- 4677-APGA- 24,225; YPP-; 514; LP-500.

ANAOCHA LGA: APC-5,956; APGA-20,188, YPP-255; LP-483.

IDEMILI NORTH: APC-6383; APGA-25,498; YPP- LP-1,275.

AKWA SOUTH LGA: APC- 5038; APGA-27896; YPP- 1201; LP-520.

AGUATA LGA: APC-4,125; APGA-35,559; YPP-301; LP-124.

DUNUKAFIA LGA: APC- 3,284; APGA- 14,892; YPP- 2542; LP- 71.

OYI LGA: APC-5,118; APGA-18,889; YPP-2073; LP-3,641.

StreetReporters.ng

This post has already been read at least 1189 times!