INEC Declares Anambra Governorship Election Inconclusive

The people of Anambra State might have to wait longer than necessary to know who their next governor will be as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday morning declared weekend’s governorship election in the state as inconclusive. Making the announcement at exactly 6:10am today, the Returning Officer, Prof James Epoke, who is also Vice-Chancellor, University of Calabar (UNICAL), declared that a supplementary election would be conducted at a date to be fixed by the electoral umpire. The major reason for declaring the election inconclusive, according to the R.O is that, for a candidate to be declared winner, he must have scored not only the highest number of votes cast, but should have also scored 25 per cent in two-third of the local government areas in the state. Apparently, due to the large number of cancelled votes, which stood at 113,113, no candidate scored the required percentage. Therefore, INEC had to examine the votes of the winner and the runner-up to determine if the difference is less than the cancelled figure. Based on the results of valid votes so far collated, Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) polled 174,710 votes to emerge tops while Tony Nwoye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 94,956 votes to place second. The difference in the figures between the first two candidates, which is 79,754 is less than the cancelled votes (113,113), the commission could not declare any of the candidates outright winner. A total of 1,763,751 voters were registered for the election, while 451,826 were accredited. Total valid votes were 413,005, while total number of rejected votes was 16,544. Total votes cast were 429,549. Out of the cancelled votes, 89,997 were from Idemili North Local Government Area alone, and additional 636 from two units in Idemili South. According to figures released by INEC, APGA came first with 174,710 votes. It was followed by PDP which scored 94,956 votes. The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate – Chris Ngige – came third with 92,300 votes, while Labour Party (LP) candidate, Ifeanyi Ubah, polled 37,446 votes to come fourth. A total of 23 candidates stood for the election. The APGA won in 16 of the 21 local government areas; APC won in two, PDP won in two, while LP won one. A date for the supplementary election will be fixed after the commission must have met, it was announced. “The commission will arrange a supplementary election in those areas where election was cancelled,” Prof Epoke said. He added that all the parties that participated in last Saturday’s election will participate in the supplementary election. A breakdown of the votes scored by candidates of the APC, APGA, LP and PDP are as follows: In Aguata, APC scored 5,275 votes, APGA polled 10,180, PDP got 4,275 votes, while LP polled 1,129. There were 24,883 accredited voters in Aguata, 23,452 votes were valid. In Ayamelum, APC polled 1,827; APGA scored 9,121; PDP got 5,681 and LP (624). Total valid votes was 17,449. In Anambra East, APC 1,418; APGA (15,300), PDP (5,579) and LP (511). Total valid votes cast was 23,315. In Anambra West, APC scored 2,478; APGA (5,128), PDP (3966) and LP (321). In Anaocha, APC polled 3,174, APGA (14,563), PDP (2,948) and LP (733). A ballot box was snatched at Unit 016, Obiamaka Primary School, it was reported. In Awka North, APC scored 1,712 votes, APGA (5,385), PDP (3,943) and LP 474. In Awka South, APC polled 6,596, APGA (9,206), PDP (5,689) and LP (1,648). The PDP scored the highest number of votes in Dunukofia, followed by APGA (3,670), APC (3,522) and LP (1,236). The APGA polled the highest number of votes in Ekwusigo (6,815), followed by PDP (4,426), APC (2,958) and LP (1,692). In Idemilli North, APC scored the highest number of votes (7,135), followed by APGA (2,795), PDP (1,462) and LP (643). The APC also led in Idemili South, where it scored 9,539 votes. APGA polled 2,899; PDP scored 3,786 while LP got 1,021. In Ihiala, APC scored 4,069; APGA (10,067), PDP (5,517) and LP (1,854). The APGA scored 10,753 votes