Anambra Governorship Election: The Winner, The Losers and Matters Arising
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) suspended the announcement of results of the just concluded governorship election in Anambra state.
The commission also paused the process of the declaration of the winner of the state governorship election result until supplementary election holds at the 326 polling units at Ihiala Local Government Area.
Meanwhile, the returning officer Professor Florence Obi while giving the announcement said the completion of the election at Ihiala local government is important considering the constitutional provision which demands that candidate must win one quarter, 25% of the votes cast for two-third of the local government areas within a state for the governorship election.
Source: Facebook
The supplementary election was held on Tuesday, November 9, 2021.
Why INEC can’t declare a winner yet
Anambrians and Nigerians were patient with INEC before getting to know the winner of the Anambra 2021 governorship election.
PAY ATTENTION: Subscribe to Digital Talk newsletter to receive must-know business stories and succeed BIG!
In the early hours of Monday, November 8, INEC suspended the collation of results for the November 6, governorship election.
Professor Florence Obi, the returning officer for the election, made the announcement at INEC head office in Awka, Anambra state capital.
The major reason according to her was the irregularities of the election in the Ihiala LGA.
Soludo's victory
Already, Professor Charles Soludo of APGA has been declared as the winner in 18 LGAs of the state, including Aguata where he and the two other leading candidates hail from and the strongholds of some prominent politicians in the state – Anaocha, Orumba South, Idemili and Njikoka.
Prior to this announcement, Professor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) secured the top votes cast in the election.
INEC announced that the APGA candidate, Soludo came first as he polled a total of 103,946 votes in the exercise from the election conducted in the 20 Local Government Areas of the state that was collated.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s candidate, Valentine Ozigbo followed, came second with 51,322 votes while Senator Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress (APC) came third with 42,942 votes.
The total votes in Ihiala are 148,407 and the margin of lead is lower than the outstanding votes in Ihiala. So, for fairness, the election needs to be concluded at Ihiala before INEC can move to announce a winner.
Out of the 20 local governments where elections were held and results announced, the APGA candidate was declared winner in 18; the candidate of the Young Progressive Party, Ifeanyi Ubah, won in one; while the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Valentine Ozigbo, took the other one. The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Andy Uba, had yet to win any LGA.
Matters Arising
According to INEC, over 2.5 million registered voters were eligible to participate in the governorship election in Anambra with a population of about five million people but fears of the worsening security situation in the Southeast state have been said to be responsible for the low voters’ turn out during the November 6 governorship election.
INEC postpones election in Ihiala LGA
The Independent National Electoral Commission postponed the governorship election in Ihiala Local Government Area, Anambra state following the alleged irregularities discovered in the council area.
INEC rescheduled the election to hold on Saturday, November 13, 2021, warning trouble makers to steer clear of all the venues where the election will hold in the Ihiala Council area.
Anambra: INEC adjusts voting timeline for Ihiala supplementary polls
The Independent National Electoral Commission has announced a slight adjustment in the supplementary election to be held in the Ihiala Local Government Area of the state.
According to the commission, voting would commence by 10 am and end by 4 pm.
INEC National Commissioner and chairman (Information and Voter Education Committee), Festus Okoye, made the announcement in a statement issued on Monday evening, November 8, titled, “Anambra State governorship election 2021: Adjustment in the voting timeline for Ihiala LGA.”
The supplementary election
Prof Florence Obi said:
"Section Section 179 (3) of the constitution provides a rerun of an election if no candidate meets the requirement of sub- section 2.
Such run-off would be between the candidates with the highest number of votes and one among the remaining candidates that secured the majority of votes of local government areas in the state."
This means from the results declared so far by INEC, the number of registered voters for Ihiala is more than the number that separates APGA and other parties with the highest votes for the election.
According to INEC, Ihiala had 148,000 registered voters but from the results the commission declared, the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) polled 103,946 while its closest rival, the Peoples Democratic Party polled 51,322.
Therefore, as long as the number of people that are yet to vote in Ihiala is more than the ones that separate APGA and PDP, it means the election is inconclusive, BBC News noted.
It definitely means Ihiala has the number of votes that can determine the winner of the election.
Breakdown of results
Total Registered Voters 2,466,638
Total Accredited Voters: 241,090
Total Valid Votes: 22,9521
Rejected Votes: 7,841
Total Votes Cast: 237,362
Top winner
From the results so far, already, Professor Charles Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has been reported as the winner and new Anambra Governor-Elect.
Soludo won the mandatory two-thirds of the votes across the local government areas. Ihiala, the only remaining LGA has a registered voter number of about 148,000.
It was indeed a battleground, but with the turnout of voters, Soludo is set to become the next Governor of Anambra state.
The top losers
Senator Ifeanyi Ubah and Valentine Ozigbo
For Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (candidate of the YPP- Young Progressives Party), they both won at the Nnewi North and Ogbaru for Valentine Ozigbo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Andy Uba
Andy Uba, a candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), couldn't convince Ndi Anambrians following the party APC's performance at the centre level.
The people of Anambra never wanted the ruling party at the centre level to take over the helms of affairs in their state, hence they were not convinced enough by their agenda.
Andy Uba was thoroughly thrashed by Professor Chukwuma Soludo, the candidate of APGA, the ruling party in the state.
Professor Soludo was comfortably in the lead of the candidates with over 50, 000 votes even in their local government.
Andy Uba failed and came third place on the table.
From the results highlighted above, you can tell that some parties performed woefully and others performed well.
The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS)
INEC deployed the newly introduced Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), a replacement to the Smart Card Reader. The BVAS is a voter accreditation technology that uses both fingerprints and facial recognition.
INEC expects that the BVAS will add to the credibility of the accreditation process and reduce the number of instances where a voter is disenfranchised due to the failure of the SCR to scan a set of fingerprints.
Ahead of the supplementary elections, the task for the commission is to improve on the use of the BVAS to avoid delay of the exercise and disruption in the voting process.
The supplementary election was between APGA and PDP.
APGA Votes in Ihiala LGA
The candidate of APGA, Charles Chukwuma Soludo, has won the Anambra governorship election, polling a total of 112,229 votes.
APGA scored the most votes in the Ihiala supplementary election that was held on Tuesday, November 9.
It would be recalled that voting was extended to Tuesday, November 9, to allow voting to take place in Ihiala LGA, which was the only local government left.
At the Ihiala LGA, while APGA gathered 8,283 votes, PDP came second with 2,485 votes, while APC got 343 votes.
The Votes of the top contenders
Charles Soludo
The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Charles Chukwuma Soludo, has won the Anambra governorship election, polling a total of 112,229 votes.
Soludo won in 19 local government areas of the state and scored 25% in all the 21 local government areas of the state.
After his victory was affirmed by the INEC, he is the second former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to emerge as governor of a state.
Valentine Ozigbo
Ozigbo is Soludo's closest rival.
The PDP candidate came second with 53,807 votes.
Andy Uba
The APC candidate came third with 43,285 votes.
The results from the supplementary election
The supplementary election held in Ihiala local government area on Tuesday was won by Soludo who polled 8,283 votes, while Ozigbo polled a total of 2,485 votes, as Andy Uba scored 343 votes.
The collation officer for Ihiala, Dr Jarma Anagbogu of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), who announced the result from Ihiala, said there was no election in Orsumoghu and Lilu communities because of security challenges, Vanguard reported.
Anambra however, has a total of 2,466,638 registered voters, while 253,388 were accredited for the election.
Sit-At-Home: Anambra residents go about their duties day after huge election boycott
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that residents of Awka, the Anambra state capital city are back to the streets a day after many of them stayed away from polling units in the just concluded governorship election.
A Legit.ng reporter in Awka noted that most of the residents were seen either heading to church or returning from one as of 8 am on Sunday, November 7.
The situation is a far cry from what was witnessed on election day when many of the residents stayed indoors and refused to participate in the election due to the fear of violence and in some cases, loyalty to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) led by Nnamdi Kanu.
Source: Legit.ng
