Just in: Nwosu, ADC candidate, rejects result of Anambra polls over vote-buying

Nwosu

By EMEKA IFEDI

A win bought with cash is a loss for democracy, John Nwosu, candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said on Sunday, flatly rejecting the result of Saturday’s polls, hours after it was released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), announcing, Charles Chukwuma Soludo as winner.

In the result announced by INEC Returning Officer, Edoba B. Omoregie, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and Vice Chancellor of University of Benin announced the total tally for the election, said Charles Chukwuma Soludo, incumbent, who ran on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), scored 422,664 to win the contest and stood re-elected,

Omoregie, who said that Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), came second with 99,445, Paul Chukwuma of Young Progressives Party (YPP) 37,753, George Moghalu of the Labour Party (LP) 10,576 and Nwosu credited Nwosu with 8,208, votes out of the registered voters of 2,788,864, and accredited voters of 598,229.”

But pooh-poohing the entire process, Nwosu, in a statement sent to DAYLIGHT, said it lacked credibility, which was the highest element for consideration in any election, adding that in almost all the polling units where the exercise took place, there were noticeable acts of buying and selling of votes akin to a market place, a development that negated democratic principles and clearly unacceptable to the ADC and himself.

Conveying his position in a statement he personally signed, he said: “I, John Chuma Nwosu (JCN), the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), hereby categorically reject the outcome of the just-concluded gubernatorial election in Anambra State. What took place yesteday was a ruse and total subversion of the people’s will, marred by massive vote buying and shameless financial inducement at polling units across the state. By every account, the people have not spoken.

“In almost every polling unit, voters were openly induced with cash ranging from ₦3,000 to ₦20,000, turning the entire process into a marketplace rather than a democratic exercise. This is a national embarrassment and a direct assault on the integrity of our democracy.