The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Governor Charles Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) the winner of the Anambra Governorship Election.
The INEC Returning Officer for the election, Edoba Omoregie, vice chancellor of the University of Benin, announced this on Sunday morning at the state collation centre in Awka, the state capital.
Mr Omoregie, a professor and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said Mr Soludo scored 422,664 votes to defeat his closest challenger and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nicholas Ukachukwu, who polled 99,445 votes.
He said the Labour Party candidate, George Moghalu, came third with 10,576 votes, while his counterpart from the African Democratic Congress, John Chuma-Nwosu, claimed the fourth position in the election with 8,208 votes.
“That Soludo Charles Chukwuma of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, having satisfied all the requirements of law and scored the highest number of votes in this election, is hereby declared winner and is returned elected,” the returning officer declared.
Mr Omoregie said a total of 2,788,864 voters registered for the election, but only 598,229 of them were accredited during Saturday’s poll.
The official said a total of 584,054 valid votes were recorded in the poll, while 11,244 votes were voided out of the 595,298 total votes cast.
According to the results, Mr Soludo won in all the 21 local government areas of the state.
This is the second time an individual has won in all 21 local government areas during a governorship election in Anambra State.
The immediate past governor of the South-eastern state, Willie Obiano, was the first to achieve the feat in 2017 when he was reelected under the APGA platform.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that Saturday’s governorship election was considered a two-horse race between Mr Soludo and his APC challenger, Mr Ukachukwu.
Background
Sixteen candidates from various political parties participated in the poll on Saturday.
During the governorship election, there were widespread reports of vote buying across various polling units in Anambra State.
Beyond the reported cases of vote buying, the BVAS machines malfunctioned in some polling units.
The exercise has been largely peaceful, despite some malpractices and glitches.
Mr Soludo was first elected as the governor of Anambra on 6 November 2021 and sworn in on 17 March 2022.
His first four-year tenure as governor will end in March 2026.
If Saturday’s governorship election is not nullified by the courts, the governor will be inaugurated for a second and final term in office on 17 March 2026.
