Tag: Anambra election

An Army Commander, alongside soldiers deployed to protect Ihiala LGA, during today’s supplementary election to decide who becomes the next governor, stopped Mr Victor Umeh, chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, from entering Ihiala LG Headquarters.

The army commander whose name could not be ascertained was leading heavily armed detachment of soldiers to secure the area.

The Anambra governorship election was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Sunday.

A supplementary election is being held in Ihiala LGA beginning from 10am.

Umeh is APGA’s state agent for the governorship election. He arrived at the local government headquarters around 10:30 am in the company of other party members, but was turned back by the army commander.

“You are not supposed to be here,” the military officer screamed at Umeh who said he was at the LG HQ “to ensure things go well”.

“You are a state agent, not LGA agent,” the senior military officer responded to Umeh.

The Anambra election is expected to be concluded on Tuesday.

Chukwuma Soludo, APGA candidate, is leading the pack with 103,946 votes while Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, trails behind with 51,322 votes.

As the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, fixes November 9th, 2021 for the supplementary election in Ihiala Local Government, the final results released on Sunday night showed the candidate of APGA won in 18 out of the 21 local governments declared by INEC.

The final results show that APGA, whose candidate is Mr Charles Soludo, polled 103, 946 to come first, the PDP, with its candidate, Mr Valentine Ozigbo, polled 51, 322 to come second while the APC with its candidate being Mr Andy Uba polled 42, 942 to come third.

The state Returning Officer for the election, Prof Florence Obi, the vice-chancellor of University of Calabar, who made the declaration in the early hours of Monday, around 12:20 a.m., said this was because there was no election in Ihiala Local Government Area which has over 148,000 registered voters.

Charles Soludo, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), scored a total of 103,946 votes and won the election in 18 out of the 21 local government areas of the state.

His closest rival, Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party scored 51,322 and won in only one local government area.

“Based on constitutional provision and consideration of the Electoral Act as well as the revised regulations and guidelines for the conduct of elections issued by the commission, supplementary election is indicated for Ihiala Local Government Area,” the state returning officer, Mrs Obi said.

She said the constitution provides for a candidate to secure both the highest number of votes cast and 25 per cent of votes cast in at least two-third of the local government areas of the state to declare the winner.

“Therefore, it is important to complete the election in Ihiala to make this determination,” she said.

The election, which held amid tight, security was extended to the following day.

The Returning Officer in the ongoing governorship election for Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra, Micheal Otu, said election did not hold in the local government he presided over because he was locked up in the toilet and forced to sign election papers.

“I was made to sign the election papers under duress,” Mr Otu narrated during collation of results at Akwa on Sunday.

“I almost collapsed. I was locked in a toilet. As far as I’m concerned, there was no election in Orumba North.”

Mr Otu’s statement comes amidst reports that the governorship election held on Saturday was peaceful, free and fair throughout the state.

Orumba North has 93,608 registered voters.

INEC has taken a break from the ongoing collation of results to examine if election actually took place at Orumba North Local Government Area, or not.

From results of 16 local government areas collated so far Charles Soludo of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) won 15, while Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won Ogbaru LGA.

Source: Peoples Gazette

As the election results continue to trickle in, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Mr Chukwuma Soludo, has defeated former governor of the State, Mr Peter Obi in his local government called Anaocha.

Also, Senator Uche Ekwunife is from the local government and a member of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, like Mr Obi.

Obi was the running mate to Mr Atiku Abubakar of the PDP in the 2019 presidential election and twice Governor on the platform of APGA.

Senator Victor Umeh also hails from the local government area.

Dr Okene Isaac, a lecturer with University of Calabar, who was the local government collation officer said: “Total number of voters 109860, accredited Voter 15940.

A policeman on Saturday evening disconnected the generator meant to power the collation centre of the 2021 Anambra State Gubernatorial election.

Officials are presently at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headquarters in Anaocha Local Government Area of the state.

The policemen are angry due to the fact that they are yet to be paid the N5,000 feeding allowance by INEC. As a result, one of them disconnected the generator.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended voting in the ongoing Anambra governorship election for one hour.

The Anambra Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Nwachukwu Orji, announced the extension in a press statement.

According to Orji, voting has been extended from 3 pm to 4 pm following reports of malfunctioning Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) – the device being used for accreditation of voters.

“The extension of time arose out of several field reports that voters have had problems with accreditation,” Orji said.

“The commission is currently investigating the reason the accreditation devices, Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) have worked perfectly in some polling units but not in others, in some of the cases.

“It will seem that this resulted from software glitches. Our technicians have already built an update to the device software to prevent further challenges. The update is currently being installed in the concerned BVAS, and we request voters, candidates and agents to be patient and allow our technical staff to solve the problem,” he said.

It was earlier reported that electorates, including the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chukwuma Soludo, had challenges casting their votes due to technical glitches.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has accused the All Progressive Congress (APC) of planning to manipulate the November 6 Anambra gubernatorial election.

The proscribed separatist group alleged that the APC has gone to correctional facilities in the South East region to get inmates and also import non-residents into the state to vote in the forthcoming election.

The group did not provide any evidence to back its claim.

Speaking through its spokesman, Emma Powerful, IPOB alleged that APC’s primary aim is to impose a governor on the people of Anambra.

Emma called on “….the United Nations Human Rights Commission, US government; British government; Israeli government; German government; Canadian government; Russian government; Amnesty International; civil society groups in the world and all relevant and reputable human rights organizations to monitor what the APC and the government of Nigeria are doing in Biafra land, especially in Imo and Anambra States.

“We want to raise this alarm to put Ndi Anambra in particular, Ndigbo and the world in general, out of the wicked plot by the APC-led Federal Government of Nigeria to rob them of their rights to choose a leader of their choice. They want to impose another puppet in Anambra State, as they did in Imo State.

“The APC has changed election norms in the history of Nigeria. We want politicians in Anambra State to be wary of what APC is doing to them, so they can resist them.”

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