The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has presented certificates of return to Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, and his deputy, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim, following their re-election victory in the just-concluded governorship election.
The certificates were presented on Tuesday in Awka, the state capital, by the INEC National Commissioner supervising the Anambra election, Kenneth Ukeagu.
Ukeagu explained that the presentation of the certificates was in compliance with Section 72(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, which mandates the Commission to issue certificates of return within 14 days to every candidate duly returned by a returning officer.
“In compliance with this statutory provision, I have the honour and privilege, in my capacity as the Supervising National Electoral Commissioner for the Anambra State governorship election, to present the certificates of return to the Governor and Deputy Governor-elect,” Ukeagu said.
He noted that the event marked the formal conclusion of the democratic process and commended the people of Anambra for demonstrating confidence in the leadership of Governor Soludo.
Governor Soludo, who was accompanied by his wife, Nonye Soludo, and their children, expressed appreciation to INEC for the peaceful conduct of the election.
He also thanked the people of Anambra State and members of his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), for their continued support.
“With this renewed mandate, Anambra will experience accelerated development across all sectors. We remain committed to building a liveable and prosperous homeland for our people,” Soludo said.
The State Returning Officer and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin, Prof. Edoba Omoregie, had earlier declared Soludo the winner after collating results from all 21 local government areas.
According to INEC’s official results, Soludo, the APGA candidate, won in all 21 LGAs with a total of 422,664 votes.
He was trailed by Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 99,445 votes, while Paul Chukwuma of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) came third with 37,753 votes.
Other results showed George Moghalu of the Labour Party (LP) polling 10,576 votes, John Nwosu of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) scoring 8,208 votes, and Jude Ezenwafor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) getting 1,401 votes.
INEC stated that out of 2,788,864 registered voters, 598,229 were accredited for the election. A total of 595,298 votes were cast, of which 584,054 were valid while 11,244 were rejected.
Sixteen political parties participated in the poll.
