The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Anambra state governorship election “inconclusive” after suspending the coalition and announcements of results.
This is coming after 20 out of 21 local governments area results have been announced to allow for a supplementary election that was scheduled for November 9, in Ihiala LGA, the outstanding local government.
The collation officer for Ihiala LGA, Ahmadu Umar, had earlier said there was no election in his area due to logistics challenges and insecurity.
He said there are 148,407 registered voters in the LGA, while also stating that there was no election in the entire LGA.
According to the results of 20 out of 21 LGA that was announced on Sunday, November 7, Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) secured 103,946 votes, followed by Valentine Ozigbo of the People Democratic Party (PDP) who got 51,322 votes, while Andy Ubah of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has gained 42,942 votes.
From the results announced so far, it was gathered that Soludo has won in 18 out of the 20 LGA that has been declared, while Andy Ubah of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has earned 42,942 votes.
Before declaring the election inconclusive, the returning officer for the election, Florence Obi, says “The outstanding result is for Ihiala LGA, where for various reasons, the commission could not deploy materials yesterday. Consequently, based on constitutional considerations and provisions of the Electoral Act, as well as revised regulations and guidelines for the conduct of election issued by the commission, the supplementary election is indicated for Ihiala local government area.
“First, section 179(2) of the constitution provides for a candidate to secure both the highest number of votes cast and 25 percent of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of the LGAs in the state to be declared the winner of the governorship election.
“Therefore, it is important to complete the election in Ihiala LGA to make this determination.
“Also, section 179(3) of the Constitution provides that a runoff election shall take place if no candidate meets the requirement of subsection 2 of the section.
“Such a runoff shall be between the candidate with the highest number of votes and one among the remaining candidates who secured a majority of votes in the highest number of LGAs in the state. This further underscores the importance of conducting elections in Ihiala LGA so that we shall cover all the LGAs to make the declaration.
“Secondly, section 26 of the Electoral Act envisages the postponement of an election where there is a cogent and verifiable reason to do so, especially threat of breach of the team. One major reason for not deploying for election in Ihiala on Saturday, 6th November, is due to security threats which led to staffing and transportation constraints, among others.
“Finally, clause 47 of the revised regulations and guidelines for the conduct of elections provides that supplementary election shall be conducted when the commission, due to logistical challenges, is unable to deploy on election day.
“Given the foregoing, it becomes imperative to bring Ihiala LGA at par with the other 20 LGAs in this election before we can make a valid declaration or take any further action based on the extant law.
“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 LGA of the state.”
The election had been relatively peaceful across the state, with instances of vote-buying–a recurring theme in Nigeria’s elections these days–recorded as well.
There were also pockets of violence in some districts. For instance, the Returning Officer for Orumba North LGA, Dr. Michael Otu, said he almost got killed when thugs attacked the Local Government collation center.
He also said he was forced to endorse a fake, result sheet, amid tear gas smokes.
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