The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Prof. Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) winner of November 6 governorship election in Anambra State.
Soludo polled a total of 112,229 votes to defeat his closest rival, Mr. Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 53, 807 to place second.
Senator Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate got a total of 43,285 votes to take the third position.
The Returning Officer for 2021 Anambra Governorship election, Prof. Florence Obi, announced this in the early hours of Wednesday at INEC headquarters, Awka.
INEC had suspended collation of results late Sunday night and declared the exercise inconclusive following the non-conduct of election in Ihiala Local Government Area.
The commission, however, fixed Tuesday November 9 for supplementary election in Ihiala.
Announcing the final result, Prof Obi noted that after adding up the results collated from Ihiala, Soludo continued his lead in the election.
She said Soludo won in 19 out of the 21 local government areas of the State.
Obi listed the areas where Soludo won to include Dunukofia, Awka South, Oyi, Anaocha, Ayamelum, Anambra East, Idemili South and Onitsha South.
She added that the APGA candidate also won in Njikoka, Orumba South, Onitsha North, Idemili North, Ekwusigo, Aguata, and Nnewi South, Orumba North and Ihiala local government areas.
The PDP candidate won in Ogbaru with 3,445 votes; APGA scored second while APC came third in the same council.
Senator Ifeanyi Uba of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) won in his home local government – Nnewi North – in spite of coming a distant fourth in the overall score card with 21,261 votes.
The Returning Officer, who doubles as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar, announced: “Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, having scored the highest number of valid votes, is declared winner of the election.”
Prof Obi said the total number of valid votes was 241,523, while 8,108 were voided.
The Returning Officer had earlier stated that Anambra with a total number of 2,466,638 registered voters only had a total of 253, 388 accredited voters for the election, which began on November 6 and extended to November 9, 2021.
Soludo, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, was born on July 28, 1960 and hails from Isuofia in Aguata Local Government Area.
He obtained a first degree in Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and worked in several national and international organisations including the World Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for West Africa and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Soludo was the Economic Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Chief Executive Officer of the National Planning Commission among others.
– NAN