How Anambra Election Was ‘Rigged’ – Chidoka

In an analysis of official data released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a former aviation minister, Osita Chidoka, has claimed that the just concluded Anambra governorship election was rigged.

The alleged rigging, according to Chidoka, was not executed by any of the 18 politicians who contested in the election but the residents of Anambra who disenfranchised themselves by failing to make their votes count at the poll.

Charles Soludo, a former central bank governor and candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA),won the election after scoring 112,229 votes and sweeping 19 of the 21 local government areas in the state.

The first runner-up, Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 53,807 votes while Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress got 43,285 votes, amongst other contenders.

Official data from INEC had shown that out of the 2,466,638 registered electorates in Anambra, only 253,388 were accredited and voted in the election.

In the end, 8,108 of the votes were declared invalid.

Chidoka said by failing to vote massively at the poll, “the election is already rigged” as “less than 5 per cent of registered voters” determined who becomes the next governor of the state.

The PDP chieftain from Anambra State wrote in a Facebook post: “The elected Governor will oversee state budget of at least 400 billion Naira over the next four years. If you add Local Government funds, it will be over 700 billion Naira.

“You sat at home and said voting does not count, the election is already rigged. Two hundred nineteen thousand five hundred eighteen persons (219,518) less than 10% of registered voters went out, and the parties bought votes from between 1000 and 5000 Naira per vote.

“If voters don’t count, why did the Politicians buy votes? At an average of 3,000 per vote, a Governor can be elected with less than 350 million Naira by a hungry minority. If 1m voters had come out, it would have been difficult.”

In a subsequent post, Chidoka clarified that, “We are not discussing defeat or Party here. Soludo won fair and square. The point is why sit at home in an election that will determine our future locally? Low turnout in Igboland is bad…bad for us as a people. It allows for state capture by leaders.”

Meanwhile, ahead of the election, there were predictions that insecurity in the state and the entire South-East region may result in low turnout of eligible voters — besides the voter apathy commonly associated with the region.

The Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) had predicted ahead of the poll that the governorship election would witness low turnout of voters.

According to the CDD, the sit-at-home earlier declared by the proscribed separatist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), as well as the heavy deployment of security operatives in the state, would dampen voters’ spirit in the November 6 election.