Anambra: I’ll Hold Your Government Accountable, PDP’s Ozigbo Tells Soludo

Valentine Ozigbo, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the just concluded Anambra governorship election, has told the winner of the poll, Charles Soludo, that his team will hold him accountable to ensure he delivers good governance to the people of the state.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday declared Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as the winner of the election.

Advertisement

The APGA candidate won the election after securing a total of 112,229 votes to defeat Ozigbo, who was his closest rival in the election.

The PDP candidate had polled 53,807 votes to emerge second while Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress came third with 43,285 votes.

Ifeanyi Ubah of the Young Progressive Party polled 21,261 votes to emerge fourth position.

While congratulating Soludo and conceding defeat to him on Wednesday, Ozigbo said although he did get the opportunity in the immediate to serve, “we will be holding the government in power accountable to ensure that the welfare of the people is foremost in their actions at all times.”

Advertisement

The PDP candidate said he joined politics two years ago to “use Anambra to set an example of excellence in governance” and to also “unify Anambra and Ala Igbo around a shared vision of greatness.”

He further identified alleged flaws on the part of INEC and security agencies that cost him the election.

“This election was fraught with a lot of short-comings on the part of various government institutions. The security agencies failed to provide a peaceful environment for campaigns to hold. On election day, they were absent from many polling centres leading to elections not holding or held in situations that allowed for chaos and fraud.

“The national electoral commission presented untrained and poorly trained staff who could not operate the voting machines in many places. They failed woefully in providing logistical support for their staff and so elections started very late in many places and did not hold in many others.

“The use of government 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.

Advertisement

“All of these led to the disenfranchisement of the greater percentage of voters and staining the course of democracy. I will be dedicating time to champion the positive change we need to ensure that future elections are truly free and fair and that the will of the electorate prevails.

“Denominational politics was also a factor. We need to do a lot more to ensure that competence is never sacrificed on this altar, and that democracy is practiced in line with its truest tenets,” he said.

Leave a comment

Advertisement