Governor Charles Soludo has been re-elected for a second term as Governor of Anambra State following the November 8 governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Governor Soludo, candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), winner of the election after the collation of results from the 21 local government areas.
Announcing the results at INEC’s state headquarters in Awka, the state returning officer and vice chancellor of the University of Benin, Omoregie Edoba, said Soludo met the constitutional requirements to be declared winner.
“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,” Mr Edoba said.
According to INEC, Soludo polled 422,664 votes to defeat Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 99,445 votes.
Paul Chukwuma of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) came third with 37,753 votes, while George Moghalu of the Labour Party (LP) had 10,576 votes.
John Nwosu of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Jude Ezenwafor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 8,208 and 1,401 votes respectively.
A total of 2,788,864 voters were registered for the election, while 598,229 were accredited. INEC said 584,054 votes were valid, while 11,244 were rejected, bringing the total votes cast to 595,298.
Soludo’s victory gives him another four-year term in office, extending his administration until 2030.
He and his deputy, Onyeka Ibezim, are expected to receive their certificates of return from INEC in the coming days.
Sixteen political parties participated in the election.
The exercise was conducted under tight security, with about 45,000 police personnel deployed across the state.
However, the process was marked by claims of vote-buying and low voter turnout.
INEC dismissed allegations of vote-buying, saying there was no evidence to support the claims.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it arrested three suspects for the offence and would charge them in court.
Soludo, 65, was first elected governor in November 2021.
Before his entry into politics, he served as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2004 to 2009.
