The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), has fixed Tuesday, November 9 for a supplementary election in Ihiala Local Government Area in Anambra.
The returning officer for Saturday’s governorship election in the state, Florence Obi, announced this early Monday after suspending the declaration of the final results of the election.
The process was suspended because there was no election conducted in Ihiala LGA, Mrs. Obi said.
“I, professor Florence Obi hereby announce the suspension of results and the declaration of the winner until the supplementary election is held in the 326 polling units in Ihiala LGA. I have confirmed with the commission that supplementary elections will take place on Tuesday 9 November 2021.
“Therefore, collection shall resume thereafter,” she noted.
Mrs. Obi cited serious security threats as the major reason there was no deployment of material and personnel like every other place election held.
She was not specific on the type and veracity of the threat.
Ihiala is the only one of Anambra’s 21 LGAs where elections could not hold.
Results were announced for all other LGAs with the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Charles Soludo, winning in 18 of the 20 LGAs for which results were declared.
“Clause 47 of the Revised Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of elections provides that supplementary elections shall be conducted where the commission due to logistic challenges is unable to deploy on Election Day,” Mrs. Obi said.
“Given the foregoing, it becomes imperative to bring Ihiala Local Government Area at par with the other 20 local government areas in this election before we can make a valid declaration in this election or take any further action based on the extant laws.
“Therefore, I, Professor Florence Banku Obi, in my capacity as Returning Officer for this election, hereby announce the suspension of the process of collation of results and declaration of a winner until a supplementary election is held in the 326 polling units in Ihiala Local Government Area of the state.”
Ihiala a determining factor for Soludo
While Professor Chukwuma Soludo is leading, the outcome of the Ihiala LGA election, which the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has rescheduled for November 9, might determine the winner of the Anambra State governorship race in 2021.
The election could not be held in Ihiala on Saturday due to a lack of electoral materials and other issues. It was later postponed to Tuesday, November 9, after being extended to Sunday.
Although Professor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, was coasting to victory as the results of the election were being tallied by the INEC yesterday, fears that the poll would be declared inconclusive without Ihiala Local Council, which has 148,407 registered voters on INEC’s list, loomed.
Mr. Val Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is currently in second place with 49,401 votes, while Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress, APC, is in third place with 40,770 votes.
As it is, depending on the outcome of the Ihiala election, either Ozigbo or Uba can overtake Soludo because 148,407 potential votes are available. There was no election in Oba Ward 1, Oba Ward II, and Akukwu Ward, all in Idemili South LGA, which have no fewer than 40,000 registered voters.
Also, INEC was meeting to decide whether or not to accept the Orumba North LGA result, which the collation officer claimed he signed under duress. the council has 93,620 registered voters.
However, in the event of any of them overtaking Soludo, there may be a run-off between the candidate and Soludo because neither APC nor PDP has met the spread of at least 25 percent of votes in 14 local councils, which constitute two-thirds of the 21 local councils.
Rescheduling the election for November 13, 2021, INEC warned trouble-makers to steer clear of all the venues where the poll will hold in Ihiala Local Council.
Areas where Soludo defeated his opponents
Soludo won 18 of the 20 LGAs announced so far. He lost Nnewi North and Ogbaru.
Nnewi North was won by the Young Progressive Party, YPP, candidate, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah while Ozigbo won Ogbaru.
With the INEC rescheduling election in Ihiala Local Council for November 13, results from two local councils are being awaited.
With a margin of over 39,000 votes, Soludo has taken a significant lead over his opponents.
A break down of results announced so far by collation officers at the INEC headquarters, in Awka showed that in Dunukofia LGA, APGA scored 4,124 votes, the PDP got 1,680 while the APC had 1,991.
In Awka South LGA, APGA polled 12,891 votes, PDP – 5,498, and APC – 2,595.
For Oyi LGA, APGA won with 6,133 votes, followed by the APC- 2,830, and PDP – 2,484, while in
Ayamelum LG, the results are as followed: APGA- 3,424, PDP- 2,804, APC – 2,409.
Anambra East LGA recorded the following result: APGA – 9,746, APC- 2,034, and PDP – 1,380.
Results from Anaocha Local Government Area showed that APGA had 6,911 votes, PDP- 5,108, and APC – 2,085.
The election result in Idemili South LGA is as follows: APGA -2,312; PDP-2,016; APC- 1,039 and YPP -752.
In Aguata LGA, it was APC – 4773; APGA – 9136; PDP -3798; and YPP -1070 votes
In Njikoka, APGA had the upper hand with 8808 votes followed by PDP, 3409 votes; APC, 3,216 votes ; and YPP -924 votes
However, YPP’s Ifeanyi Ubah showed his might in his native Nnewi North where he became the only governorship candidate among the other 16, who delivered his local council.
He polled an unassailable 6,485 votes to outwit Soludo of APGA, who garnered 3,369 votes. APC’s Andy Uba got 1,778 votes while Ozigbo of the PDP scored 1,511 votes.
In Onitsha South, it was APC-3,909; APGA -3,387; PDP – 3,781; and YPP-682 votes.
A similar result was posted in Onitsha South as follows: APC- 2,050; APGA, 4,281; PDP -2,253; and YPP-271 votes.
For Orumba South, the results were APC- 2.060; APGA – 4,394; PDP -1,672; and YPP – 887 votes.
In Nnewi South, APGA continued its winning streak with 3,243 votes compared to APC’s 1,307; PDP’s 2,227; and YPP’s 1,327 votes.
The result for Awka North showed APGA polling 1,908 votes. APC got 775 votes while PDP scored 840 votes.
In Ekwusigo, it was APC, 1237; APGA, 2570; and PDP, 1857. And in Idemili North, APC scored 2291; APGA garnered 5358 votes while PDP had 2312 votes.
In Ogbaru LGA, Ozigbo held sway, polling 3,445 votes while Soludo had 3,051 votes and Andy Uba ot 1,233 votes.
CDD reports extensive incidences of vote-buying
Meanwhile, a preliminary report by the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, alleged extensive vote-buying by political parties across the state.
Speaking at a news conference in Abuja, CDD Director of Research, Sa’eed Usaini claimed that most of the electoral crimes were committed with security operatives looking the other way.
“We have also noted widespread incidences of vote-buying that will likely negatively impact the credibility of the election result,” he said.
“CDD observers reported numerous not so discreet cases of ‘see and buy’ in polling units across the 21 LGAs of the state.
“In many reported cases, police officers have been alleged to have looked the other way likely as a result of having themselves been compromised.”
Usaini also noted that there were reports of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, failing across numerous polling units in the state, noting that the repeated occurrence threatens the quality of the election outcome.
In several incidences, the CDD Director said the BVAS failed to recognise voters’ faces and fingerprints, and those affected were asked to wait until the challenge was resolved.
This is even as he noted that CDD observers reported malfunctioning of the BVAS in Ayamelum Local Government Area with three polling units affected.
According to him, INEC resorted to the use of manual methods of accreditation and voting in some polling units in Akwa South, Awka North, Idemili North, Idemili South, and Anambra West local government areas of the state.
41 result sheets were carted away, says collation officer
Also, Gabriel Othong, the collation officer for Idemili South LGA, said 41 result sheets for some polling units were carted away.
Othong disclosed this while submitting results for the area, in Awka, yesterday.
He said the result sheets of the affected areas were taken away by the supervisory presiding officer (SPO) posted to the area.
He also said there was no election in Oba Ward 1, Oba Ward 11 and Akukwu Ward, all in Idemili South LGA.
“One of the SPOs carted 41 result sheets out of the 42 result sheets meant for the 89 polling units in the affected wards,” NAN quoted him as saying.
“Over 40,000 voters were not able to vote in the affected areas due to the development.”
The collation officer added that election officials were not deployed to some of the polling units due to shooting in some areas.
According to NAN, Ebere Obiakor, the agent for the APC said there was election in the affected areas but the results were not collated.
But Alex Obiogbolu, the collation agent for the PDP and Victor Umeh of the APGA, countered Obiakor’s statement, saying there was no election in any of the affected places.
Ada Peter
