The All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected the outcome of the Anambra South Senatorial District by-election conducted on Saturday.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Dr. Emmanuel Nwachukwu of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as the winner of the poll.
According to INEC’s announcement, Nwachukwu polled 90,408 votes to defeat his closest rival, Chief Azuka Okwuosa of the APC, who scored 19,847 votes. Mr. Donald Amangbo of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) came third with 2,889 votes.
Reacting to the result, the APC Chairman in Anambra State, Chief Basil Ejidike, alleged that the party’s candidate was prevented from participating fully in the election. He claimed the Anambra Vigilance Group held the APC senatorial candidate hostage in his home on the day of the election.
Ejidike further alleged that a state government official, who is not from Anambra South, led members of Agunaechemba, the state security outfit, to Orsumenyi, where they restricted APC’s activities. He accused the group of interfering in the electoral process in favour of APGA.
Also speaking, an APC chieftain, Chief Nicholas Ukachukwu, said the party could not understand how the results were declared when many figures were still in the custody of electoral officers. He described the role of the state security outfit as a serious breach of the electoral process and wondered why no one had been arrested.
Ukachukwu argued that APGA’s actions showed it feared a true popularity contest. He recalled that during a pre-election security meeting, it was agreed that the security outfit would not be involved and should be disarmed, yet they openly carried guns, arrested people, and detained them in their own cells.
The APC leaders insisted that the declared result did not reflect the will of the people and vowed to challenge it in court. They expressed optimism that the party would perform strongly in the forthcoming Anambra governorship election scheduled for November 8.
