After Reviewing Anambra Poll, INEC Presents Certificate of Return to Soludo Today

•Commission prepares for FCT area council election Feb 2022
•Uba rejects result, alleges manipulation
•Ihedioha lauds Anambra electorate, salutes Ozigbo
•Abdulsalami’s peace c’ttee, Ekiti APGA hail outcome

Chiemelie Ezeobi, Chuks Okocha, Onyebuchi Ezigbo, Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja and Victor Ogunje in Ekiti

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will today in Awka, Anambra State, present Professor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grandad Alliance (APGA) with the certificate of return as the duly elected governor in the November 6 governorship election in the state, after duly reviewing the election process.

INEC also said an in-depth examination of the system, review reports from accredited observers from Anambra, the media and response to all identified challenges, would prepare it ahead of the next major area council election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), holding on 12th February 2022.

This is as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Andy Uba, has rejected the outcome of the election, alleging massive manipulation.
Nonetheless, the immediate past governor of Imo State, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, has commended residents of the state over what he described as the resilience of the electorate.

Similarly, the National Peace Committee (NPC) led by former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, has commended the people of the state for the peaceful conduct of the November 6th governorship election.
In the same vein, Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Ekiti State, Mr Rufus Alabi, has said Soludo’s victory at the just concluded Anambra election was a morale booster to Nigerians.
However, INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, hinted at the presentation of certificate of return to Soludo after the meeting of the commission.

According to Okoye, “Following the conclusion of the election and as provided for in Section 75 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), certificates of return will be presented to the governor-elect and deputy governor-elect tomorrow Friday, 12th November 2021, at our state office in Awka.”
He said the commission was awaiting the reports of all officials deployed for the election for an in depth review of the processes.

Okoye, in the statement, said after the supplementary election in Ihiala Local Government Area on Tuesday 9th November 2021 and before the process was concluded, the commission commenced a preliminary review of the functionality of systems, particularly, the newly introduced Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
He explained that the system performed two functions on election day. “First is the accreditation of voters using both the fingerprint and facial authentication. Secondly, it snaps the polling unit level result sheets and uploads them in real-time to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.

“This aspect of the BVAS functionality performed optimally such that by the early hours of Sunday morning, results from 4,987 (88.5%) out of 5,634 polling units had been uploaded for public view.
“While still in the field, our ICT team responded to the identified glitches in the accreditation of voters and corrected them. Consequently, in the Ihiala supplementary election, there were no reported incidents of BVAS malfunction,” Okoye explained.

According to him, the commission would carry out an in-depth examination of the system, review reports from accredited observers and the media and respond to all identified challenges ahead of the next major area council election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), holding on 12th February 2022
“We shall again test run the system in the bye-election (s) that may arise before then. The Commission remains convinced that despite some glitches experienced in Anambra State governorship election, the deployment of technology in elections is better than the best manual process,” noting that the Anambra election was conducted under the most challenging circumstances.

“Never before did the Commission have to grapple with numerous issues ahead of an off-season governorship election, including attacks on our facilities, withdrawals of critical service providers such as the ad hoc staff and transporters on the eve of the election and the general tension pervading the atmosphere. Happily, the election passed off peacefully,” Okoye stated.

Commission, however, expressed its gratitude to the security agencies, election duty officials, political parties and candidates, the National Peace Committee under the leadership of Abubakar, religious and community leaders, socio-cultural associations, civil society organisations and the media for the enormous sacrifice and support in ensuring that the election was conducted and peacefully concluded.

He, however, said INEC looked forward to the support of all Nigerians in the forthcoming elections, adding that, “We will continue to work hard to protect the sanctity of the ballot and to conduct free, fair and credible elections anywhere in Nigeria. We remain resolute that only the votes cast by citizens at polling units will determine the outcome of elections.”
Meanwhile, Uba, in a statement on Thursday by the Spokesperson of his campaign organisation, Mr. Jerry Ugokwe, described the outcome of the election as a ‘charade’ and did not reflect the wishes of the people of Anambra State.

“Our popular candidate, Senator Andy Uba, is a victim of widespread electoral fraud and manipulation by INEC in cahoots with the Willie Obiano regime and the security forces deployed to oversee the Anambra State Governorship Election.
“The elections were characterised by widespread irregularities, intimidation and voter suppression in order to clear the path for the inglorious ‘victory’ of APGA in the polls,” he said.
Uba lamented that in polling units, where the Biometric Voters’ Accreditation System malfunctioned, INEC went ahead to conduct the elections manually, noting that there were numerous cases, where votes announced by INEC exceeded the number of accredited voters in polling units.

The APC candidate alleged that a clear manifestation of collusion between the Obiano administration and INEC was the publishing of results on the social media handles of APGA, even before official announcement by INEC.
“Yet, mysteriously, the votes announced in advance by APGA always correspond correctly with the official figures released by INEC. It is inconceivable that our candidate, who polled over 200,000 votes in the APC primary election would be allocated a slightly above 43,000 votes by INEC.”
Uba said it was surprising that APGA that lost almost 80% of its stalwarts through defection to the APC before the election came out ‘victorious’.

He recalled that a sitting APGA Deputy Governor, seven members of the House of Representatives, 10 members of the Anambra State House of Assembly, the APGA party’s member of Board of Trustees, many serving Special Advisers, Senior Special Advisers, as well as a serving PDP Senator all defected to the APC very timely before the election, “yet APGA emerged ‘victorious’. This is quite ridiculous.

“From all indications, the only people remaining in APGA at the time of the election were Governor Obiano and his household and a few staff of the Government House as well as Prof. Soludo and his household but majority of the electorate in Anambra State have moved to the APC.
“There was definitely no way the carcass of APGA could have defeated the APC without the active collusion and manipulation by INEC and the Obiano administration.”

Uba insisted that what happened on November 6, 2021, fell far below the acceptable standard of a free and fair election, and could best be described as an electoral fraud perpetrated by the INEC, Willie Obiano administration and the security forces.
He, however, called on his supporters to remain peaceful and calm, saying he would not relent in pursuing the ‘stolen electoral mandate’ to the limit of the law through all the constitutional means available, stating that the facts on the ground did not in any way reflect the outcome of the elections as announced by INEC.

Ihedioha Lauds Anambra Electorate, Salutes Ozigbo
Sacked former Governor of Imo State, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, has commended residents of Anambra State over what he described as their resilience during the Anambra election.
In the press statement personally, Ihedioha also felicitated with the Anambra governor-elect, Professor Chukwuma Soludo on his election, even as he commended the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Valentine Ozigbo, “for his impressive outing”.

The statement read in part: “Worthy of commendation is the resilience of the electorate – Ndi Anambra – who resisted efforts to compromise their conscience and unequivocally expressed their preference for their choice candidate.
“In the same vein, I am gratified and indeed salute the doggedness of Mr. Valentine Ozigbo, candidate of my party, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), who despite daunting challenges and distractions, led our party formidably.
“I am delighted to note that, in the spirit of sportsmanship and patriotism, most of the candidates of other political parties in the contest have called to congratulate Prof. Soludo on his victory. I wish to urge him to be magnanimous in victory and take steps also to reach out to his co-contestants for the good of the state.
Abdulsalami’s Peace Committee Hails Anambra Poll

The National Peace Committee (NPC), led by General Abdulsalami Abubakar, has commended the people of Anambra State for the peaceful conduct of the November 6th governorship election.
In a congratulatory message to the governor-elect, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Abubakar, said the people of the state displayed unprecedented patience, courage, decorum, and sacrifice casting their votes.
Thus, on behalf of the Peace Committee, he congratulated Soludo and urged him to be magnanimous in victory as well as live up to the democratic ideals for which he was elected.

“I want to particularly thank the people of Anambra for the way and manner they conducted themselves throughout the period of the governorship election, leading up to the announcement of the election results. Throughout the period of the elections, you displayed unprecedented patience, courage, decorum, and sacrifice to cast your votes and play your part in deepening the culture of peaceful elections in Nigeria,” he said.

“Nigerians appreciate your conduct and display of patriotism and commitment to the ideals of democracy, which is worthy of emulation. The National Peace Committee particularly expresses profound appreciation to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu and his team, the Inspector General of Police, the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee for Election and Security, other Security Agencies, Traditional Rulers, Development Partners, and Civil Society Groups for their tireless efforts in ensuring a peaceful electoral process in Anambra State.
“We thank the political parties and their respective candidates for yielding to the call for a peaceful election in Anambra State. In the same vein, we thank the political stakeholders from ward chairmen to state chairmen of all the political parties, who participated in the election for giving peace a chance,” he said.

Soludo’s Victory, a Morale Booster, Says Ekiti APGA

Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Ekiti State, Mr Rufus Alabi, has said the victory of its governorship candidate, Prof. Charles Soludo, in the just concluded Anambra election, was a morale booster to Nigerians.
Alabi, however, urged Ekiti people to keep faith with APGA in the 2022 governorship poll.

Speaking with journalists in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, the APGA boss, said the party would participate in the forthcoming elections in Ekiti, just as it was prepared to field candidates in the December 4, 2021 local government elections.
Alabi, who declared that APGA was fully prepared in Ekiti to accomplish the task of building a modern state, also commended and acknowledged the efforts of the Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano and Soludo in earning victory for the party.

“We are very happy about the victory of Professor Charles Soludo. The people of Anambra have proved to the world that they are matured and determined and God Almighty had shown His mercy on them.
“Many people had thought there would be violence and bloodshed but thank God everything went on smoothly. We have been praying for the Anambra and thank God our prayers were answered.
“Our party’s resounding victory had boosted our morale and we are determined to wrest power from the ruling APC. Mark my words, APGA is coming in 2022.”