The Anambra State governorship election was eventually concluded this morning as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced former Central Bank governor and candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, as winner of the poll that began on Saturday.
INEC had declared the election inconclusive on Sunday after no votes were cast in Ihiala Council, hence the supplementary election.
After taking a comfortable lead in Saturday’s election, winning 18 of 20 councils declared, Soludo led the poll with 103,946 votes while the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Valentine Ozigbo, had 51,322 votes.
Presenting the final poll result at 1:52a.m. at the State Collation Centre, Awka, INEC Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Prof Florence Obi, declared Soludo winner of the election after winning Ihiala to take his tally to 19 councils out of 21, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Youths Progressives Party (YPP) both have one local government area each. APC failed to win any council in the election.
The supplementary election got underway after about two hours of delay. Some early birds who thronged the council to witness the distribution of materials were barred by security operatives.
As the rerun election went underway, unknown gunmen, suspected to be members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), engaged security operatives in a shootout for about three hours at the border town of Orsumoghu. The town is about two kilometres from Orsu Council of Imo State.
At the Mbosi Orsumoghu/Azia junction, a group of journalists monitoring the election in Ihiala ran into the security personnel comprising soldiers, police, civil defence, among others, who asked them to turn back immediately because IPOB was operating in the area.
They added that following the superior firepower of security operatives, the gunmen ran into the bush.
Meanwhile, the police have denied reports of any killing by soldiers in Ihiala after an unconfirmed report stated that soldiers patrolling around the distribution/collation centre reportedly shot dead someone.
When contacted on the telephone, the public relations officer of Zone 13 Police Headquarters, Ukpo, Nkeiru Nwode, said there was nothing like that. “We don’t have such report and I don’t think something like that happened,” she said.
Meanwhile, a large turnout of voters was reported across all polling units in Ihiala.
The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Obinna Uzor expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the rerun election.
He told reporters after casting his vote at Umunnamehi community school 3, PU024 ward 1, that he was hopeful and prayed that a good leader would emerge to encourage peace and development in Anambra.
