ANAMBRA governor-elect, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has described his victory as “a by-product” of 12 years of relentless political struggle. Soludo stated this in an acceptance speech after his declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in the early hours of Wednesday, as the winner of Saturday’s governorship poll.
“For 12 years since the massive clamour by the people of Anambra for us to serve them, we persevered to this divine moment. This is a divine journey whose time has come. To God be all the glory and adoration,” the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria stated.
In the statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka, on Wednesday, he said: “God was behind my victory.
“With utmost humility and gratitude to God, I accept the results of the 2021 Anambra governorship election as declared by INEC.
“This reflects the supreme will of the Almighty God and an overwhelming sacred mandate of the people.”
Soludo, especially dedicated his victory to the three policemen, who were killed by unknown gunmen during the town hall meeting in his ward.
Buhari, Ortom, Obi, others congratulate Soludo
Though Soludo emerged winner as candidate of the All Progresive Grand Alliance (APGA), the congratulatory messages have come from personalities both of the ruling and opposition parties.
Among the first set of persons to congratulate him was President Muhammadu Buhari, who said he looked forward to working with the incoming governor for the peace, security and development of not only Anambra State, but the entire country.
He enjoined Soludo, who is member of the Presidential Economic Advisory Committee, to rally other stakeholders to tackle the enormous challenges confronting the State and the Southeast in general.
According to a statement issued by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity) on Wednesday, the President praised the security agencies for their determination to ensure that the election went on as smoothly as possible, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the successful conclusion of the exercise despite the initial challenges encountered.
The governors who congratulated Soludo included Samuel Ortom of Benue State who said the victory showed that there is hope for democracy to flourish in the country as long as all agencies and participants play according to the rules.
According to statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Nathaniel Ikyur, Ortom described Soludo’s victory as a true reflection of the wishes of people of Anambra and not the machination of some individuals or groups outside the state.
Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, in congratulating Soludo, praised the people of Anambra for braving the odds and coming out to perform their civic duties.
A former presidential candidate and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim also enjoined the former CBN governor, to “as soon as he is sworn in, hit the ground running to deliver on his campaign promises as a mark of gratitude to God for this rare opportunity of service and gratitude to Anambarians who made enormous sacrifices during the election.”
Ngige urges other contestants to sheath their swords
In his own felicitation message, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, urged all who contested against Soludo to sheath their swords, describing the victory of the former CBN governor as a welldeserved one.
According to a statement signed by his Media Office, the Minister urged Soludo to be magnanimous in victory, saying it was time for him to reach out to everybody, including those who aspired with him in his APGA, as well as others who contested on the platforms of other political parties, so that all and sundry can join hands to elevate Anambra to an enviable position in Igbo land and Nigeria in general.
The Minister congratulated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for conducting a free, fair and credible election, while urging the commission to tackle the challenges and hiccups posed by the malfunctioning of the Biometric Voters’ Accreditation (BVAS) system in some places.
We must imbibe good lessons from Anambra election —Saraki
Immediate past Senate president, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki has congratulated Nigerians, particularly the people of Anambra State, urging them not to allow the crucial lessons which the results of the elections signified to go unnoticed or ignored.
Saraki in a statement by the Head of his Media Office, Yusuph Olaniyonu, commended the stakeholders and other people who initiated and participated in the dialogue that eventually created the peaceful atmosphere that pervaded the period immediately before, during, and after the election.
He further praised the security agencies for the diligence and professionalism displayed by the officers and men on duty who rose to the occasion by ensuring smooth conduct of the polls without any serious breach of peace.
He also lauded the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the successful deployment of technology to improve the election process, particularly the adoption of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and electronic transmission of results.
Employ your expertise to develop Anambra —Ohanaeze
In a congratulatory message signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia, the apex Igbo association, Ohanaeze, urged Soludo to bring to bear his robust intellectual prowess, creativity, organizational skill, prudence, vision, diligence, track record of accomplishments and character comeliness.
Especially, Ohanaeze prayed that Soludo’s sterling pedigree will add extraordinary value to social economics of the State, while urging him to exhibit large heart, magnanimity and statesmanship in his public dispositions as governor.
The group also commended people of Anambra for demonstrating an exceptional degree of maturity and wisdom in managing the emotions, anxieties, conflicts, trepidations and excitements
Ubah makes case for industrialisation of Anambra
Candidate of the Young Progressives Party, YPP in the just concluded Anambra State governorship election, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, congratulated Soludo, saying he “wholeheartedly accept outcome of the election.”
Like Ozigbo, Ubah said he had called Soludo to congratulate him on his victory at the poll.
Ubah advised other contestants to move on and thread the same path of honour, while urging the governor-elect, upon assumption of office, “to conduct local government elections and grant full financial autonomy to our local government areas, LGAs in order for them to bring dividends of democracy to the grassroots.”
Ozigbo congratulates Soludo, blames INEC, security agencies for PDP failure
Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Valentine Ozigbo, through his Media Director, Aziza John Uko, disclosed that he had called Soludo and congratulated him on being declared winner of the election.
He, however, alleged that the election was fraught with issues of security agencies failing to provide a peaceful environment for campaign to hold and being absent from many polling centres leading to elections not holding or held in situations that allowed for chaos and fraud.
Ozigbo also decried that he observed that INEC presented “untrained and poorly trained staff who could not operate the voting machines in many places such that elections started very late in many places and did not hold in many others.
He also said the “use of funds and resources to corrupt, coerce, and intimidate voters, PDP party agents, and electoral officials was a major factor in determining the outcome of this election.”
According to him, the various factors led to the disenfranchisement of the greater percentage of voters.
TMG tasks INEC on improved equipment, end to vote buying
Foremost civil society election observation organisation in Nigeria, Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) called for the improvement of election equipment especially the Biometric Voters Accreditation System (BVAS).
The group in a statement issued by its chairman, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani also urged the authorities of various security agencies to investigate and prosecute all security operatives who engaged in violation of human rights, and gross misconduct during the election.
Rafsanjani who harped on the need for a paradigm shift in the electoral system noted that the pre-election season which witnessed a lot of violence that marred campaign rallies of the various parties in parts of the state eventually led to low voter turnout, an omen he said is bad for ‘our democracy’.
The TMG boss, however, called on government to stand up to the challenges of insecurity in the country, so that the 2023 election will not witness voters’ apathy, as was the case in Anambra.
Similarly, the TMG Vice-Chairman, Mrs Miriam Menkiti lamented the poor functioning of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation Machine, BVAM and card readers of INEC, which frustrated voters across the 21 local government areas of the state.
Furthermore, Rafsanjani, while observing that vote-buying was the business of the day during the governorship poll, said: “Voters were seen selling their votes for as low as N2,000. In some cases, the security operatives looked away while vote buying was going on at some polling units.”
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