The Candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Incumbent Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Soludo, has assured of victory in the ongoing off-cycle election in the state.
Prof. Soludo, gave the assurance while briefing journalists shortly after casting his vote on Saturday at a polling unit in Aguata Local Government Area of the state.
The Governor who stated emphatically that there is no opposition in the state, however, declared that the success of the election could only be ascertained at the end of the exercise.
“We said this all throughout the campaign, we have opponents, but we’ve not seen the opposition and even at that, we’re nottaking the vote of the people for granted. And that is why we’re the only partythat has helped in building infrastructure across all local governments, androads for the 6 wards, good markets, streets, roads, everywhere,” he said.
Speaking on those who are yet to cast their votes, he said: “In the next 1hr, voting is supposed to close officially, butthe rule is that, once you’re in the Polly unit before 2:30, you must vote. So, I expect that all these people here that are more than 100 persons, will allvote.”
Soludo raised alarm over plans by a political party to swap results during collation, but assured that efforts would be made to prevent it.
“What we’re concerned about and hope is not going to happen is that one party have a strategy. They have written a result, hoping that they will swap during the collation process, though they are telling them not to upload the results wrongly, so they can have the room to manipulate the vote. We’re vigilant, and the people are vigilant. We’re organized, we’re United and we will follow the process from the Polly units. We will follow it to the collation centres, and the wards. From the wards, we will follow it to the local government, and to the state, and it’s what the system wants. We have absolutely no doubt,” he said.
TheFact Daily gathered that the voting exercise which began as early as 8am has been very peaceful across the state. However, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nicholas Ukachukwu, alleged that the exercise was marred with votes selling and buying.
Ukachukwu, who cast his vote at Osumenyi Ward 2, Polling Unit 012, described the incidents as a serious threat to democracy.
“If there’s no seller,there cannot be a buyer. Some people have chosen to sell their conscience, which is even worse than those buying votes. When you give up your right for money, you lose your voice as a citizen. You can’t cry later, society must be blamed for encouraging this,” he noted.
Reports highlighted intimidation, PWD rights violations, and logistical lapses, with 15 incidents recorded for electoral offences mostly verified, dominated by coordinated vote buying in Nnewi South and Awka North.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a total of 2,802,790 voters registered for the election following the conclusion of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise and subsequent clean-up of the database.
The electoral umpire also noted that a total of 168,187 new registrations were recorded across the 326 wards of the state, but 27,817 invalid multiple entries were removed after Automated Biometric Identification System screening, leaving 140,370 valid new voters. While 5,983 voters transferred their registration within the state.
