INEC Speaks At Last: Anambra Election Is Inconclusive

Anambra State governorship election ended in an anti-climax on Monday morning as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared it inconclusive. At exactly 6:10am, the Returning Officer, Prof James Epoke, who is the Vice-Chancellor, University of Calabar, declared that a supplementary election would be conducted at a new date to be fixed by INEC.

The main reason for declaring the election inconclusive, said Prof Epoke, is that, for a candidate to emerge as the winner, he must have scored not only the highest number of votes cast, but should also ganner 25 per cent in two-third of the local government areas in the state.

Apparently because of the large number of cancelled votes, which stood at 113,113, no candidate scored the required percentage to be declared winner of the election.

Therefore, the commission had to now examine the votes of the winner and the runner-up to determine if the difference is less than the cancelled figure.

Whereas, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Chief Willie Obiano polled 174,710 votes that is very questionable, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Comrade Tony Nwoye polled 94,956 votes.

Because the controversial difference in the figures between the first two candidates, which is 79,754 is less than the cancelled votes, which 113,113, the commission could not declare anybody the winner.

INEC is now planning a supplementary election but three of the top candidates are calling for a re-run.