Anambra Election Update: INEC suspends declaration of election results
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the early hours of Monday suspended the declaration of results in the Anambra governorship election.
The Returning Officer for the election, Florence Obi, who announced this at 12.05 a.m. on Monday, said the decision to suspend the declaration of results was to allow for a supplementary election in Ihiala local government area of the state. The supplementary election will hold on Tuesday.
There are 148,407 registered voters in the area.
The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Prof. Charles Soludo, has won in 17 out of the 19 local government areas so far declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He leads his closest challenger, Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 49, 685 votes.
The APGA candidate has scored 99,160 votes while Ozigbo garnered 49,475.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), Andy Uba, recorded 40,270, and the Young Progressives Party (YPP) flag bearer, Ifeanyi Ubah, has 20,292 votes.
ANAMBRA: INEC postpones election in Ihiala till November 9
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday postponed the governorship election in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State till November 9 over alleged irregularities in most communities in the area.
The officer in charge of the area, Ahmadu Umar, disclosed this during the collation of election results in Awka, the state capital.
He said the election did not take in Ihiala on Saturday due to the activities of some politicians who tried to manipulate the process.
According to him, there are 148,407 registered voters in the area.
Situation Room decries vote-buying in Anambra election, charges INEC on credible process
The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room said on Sunday the Anambra State governorship election was generally peaceful but characterized by vote-buying.
In a statement jointly signed by its Convener, Ene Obi, and the two Co-Conveners, Asma’u Joda and James Oguchukwu, the Situation Room votes were sold for N1,000 and N6,000 at various locations during the election held across the state on Saturday.
The group, however, said the vote-buying was carried out discreetly in some polling units while it was done in the full glare of the public despite the presence of security agents in others.
The Situation Room disclosed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ad-hoc staff and election materials arrived late in many polling units visited by field observers.
The organization also reported the widespread malfunction of the Bimodal Verification Accreditation System (BVAS) in several polling units across the state.
The group urged the people of Anambra to remain peaceful as the election runs its course and charged INEC to ensure the peaceful and transparent conclusion of the exercise.
It also implored security agencies to continue to maintain law and order through the remaining phases of the election.
The statement read: We received reports of widespread vote-buying by political party agents across the state. Some of the specific instances include the sale of votes for amounts ranging from N1,000 and N6,000 at various locations.
However, this was being carried out very discreetly in some PUs while in others the votes buying was done in full glare without prevention from the security personnel.
“Nevertheless, voters in a particular polling unit in the state rejected an inducement of N5,000 per vote. Situation Room commends the courage of these voters. For this, we say a big well done to Ndi Anambra.
“The problem with the BVAs was noticeable in 59 percent of the PUs observed, with a minimum of five minutes to accredit one voter in 65.8 percent of the PUs observed.
“Furthermore, some of the ad-hoc staff experienced some difficulty in operating the machines. In some locations, the machines were working rather slowly and took as long as 10 minutes or more to accredit a single voter.
“The voter turnout was good, contrary to earlier apprehensions that trailed the beginning of the electioneering process.
“Even though there were no large crowds of voters, it was still a relief to see citizens come out eventually to exercise their rights.”
