The candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the Saturday Anambra State governorship election, Nicholas Ukachukwu, has said that he is still gathering information from his party agents after which he would take decisions on the outcome of the election.
Recall that the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, was declared winner of the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Returning Officer, Prof. Edoba Omoregie.
According to result released by INEC, Soludo, having polled a total of 422,664 votes defeated his closest rival and the candidate of the APC who polled 99,445 while the candidate of the Young Progressives Party, Paul Chukwuma polled 37,753 to come third.
Declaring the results at the INEC headquarters in Awka, on Sunday, Omoregie said, “The number of registered voters was 2,788,864 while accredited voters was 598,229. Total valid votes was 584,054, while rejected votes was 11,244 and total votes cast was 595,298.”
However, in his reaction to the outcome of the election during a press briefing in Awka, on Sunday, Ukachukwu said 99,445 voters in the state voted for him because they wanted Anambra to move forward.
He said for the fact that about 99,445 people voted for him on Saturday, meant that the APC has come to stay in Anambra and will soon dominate the state.
He said, “From the beginning of the primary till the election proper, we made a diligent effort. The election has come and gone. I congratulate my team members and campaign council, they showed they were all gallant soldiers.
“My supporters Including my running mate were intimidated by thugs and prevented from casting their votes in their polling units. They arrested one of our agents and kept him somewhere until after the election.
“When you look at where we are coming from, you will understand that we made appreciable effort. What happened is a story for another day. We are still collating data and gathering information from our party agents and after that we will know what to do. I am still consulting with my party to know the step or action to take.
“For the first time in the history of the election, the APC scored almost 100,000 votes without any inducement. But they accused us of vote-buying, can the APC candidate who is not a sitting governor buy vote?
“If the APC candidate bought votes like the APGA candidate, the result would have been obvious. And if you see the level of violence, the people they arrested were all APC members. The house they burnt belonged to an APC member. The woman defeated them in her polling booth, but they went to burn down her house, was it APC that burnt down the house?
“Those who burnt the house have not been arrested. Whatever decision I am going to take, I must carry those 99,445 voters who voted for me along. They voted for me because they want Anambra to move forward. I must consult them. Like I said, I will hear from them. APC is here and it’s here to stay.”
Medicine after death.