Governor Chukwuma Soludo has secured a second term in office until 2030 after he was declared the winner of the November 8 Anambra State governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
According to the results announced by INEC in the early hours of Sunday, Soludo won by a landslide in the 21 local government areas of the South-East state.
The State Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Omoregie Edoba, declared Soludo as the winner of the exercise after the collation of results from the local government areas of the state where the election was held.
“I hereby declare that Soludo Chukwuma Charles of the APGA, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” Edoba, a professor, told a gathering at the state headquarters of INEC in Awka, the state capital, where the election results were collated.
Soludo, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), secured 422,664 votes to trounce his closest rival, the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Nicholas Ukachukwu, who polled 99,445 votes.
Paul Chukwuma of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) came third with 37,753 votes, while John Nwosu of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) scored 8,208 votes.
George Moghalu of the Labour Party (LP) and Jude Ezenwafor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 10,576 votes and 1,401 votes, respectively.
Shortly after the results were announced, party agents present signed the result sheet.
Results have given Soludo a fresh four-year term at the Light House.
Sixteen parties and their candidates contested for Anambra’s top job.
Apart from Soludo and Ukachukwu, others are Paul Chukwuma of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) and John Nwosu of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Also cleared by INEC are George Moghalu of the Labour Party (LP), Echezona Oti of the Allied People’s Movement (APM), Ms. Chioma Ifemeludike of the African Action Congress (AAC), Jeff Nweke of Action Alliance (AA), Charles Onyeze of Accord Party (AP), Geoff Onyejegbu of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), and Jude Ezenwafor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Others are Chukwudubem Nweke of the Action Peoples Party (APP), Jerry Okeke of the Boot Party (BP), Ndidi Olieh of the National Rescue Movement (NRM), Martin Ugwoji of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), and Vincent Chukwurah of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Soludo was first elected as governor on November 10, 2021, sweeping to victory in 19 of the 21 LGAs.
Victory for the 65-year-old former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) signalled the end of the months-long electioneering dominated by debates over the state of affairs in Anambra.
His opponents and critics accused him of failing to address insecurity and economic challenges plaguing Anambra residents.
But the governor promised to consolidate on his achievements in the first four years if re-elected, banking on APGA’s 19-year grip on power in the state.