Voting has officially ended in the Anambra governorship election, with sorting and counting of ballots now underway across the state.
The process began around 2 p.m. in some polling units, including units 10, 02, and 03 in Amawbia, Awka South Local Government Area, while other locations started later in the afternoon.
Saturday’s election was largely peaceful, with no reports of violence recorded at any polling unit. However, some candidates and observers alleged incidents of vote-buying during the exercise.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, John Nwosu, accused the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) of engaging in vote-buying. The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Nicholas Ukachukwu, also made similar claims and alleged intimidation of his party agents in some parts of the state.
Governor Charles Soludo, who is seeking re-election under APGA, expressed confidence in winning the election but raised concerns about alleged plans to manipulate results.
“The only thing we hear that is actually a concern, and we hope won’t happen, is that one party (he laughs) has written results to swap during the collation process,” Soludo said after casting his vote. “We hear they have even had meetings with INEC not to upload the results so that they can have the opportunity to manipulate them.”
Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), also decried widespread vote-buying. “I have moved around, listened, and observed what’s happening. What you see predominantly is vote buying, on a scale of ₦30,000, ₦20,000, ₦15,000,” he said. “The question I ask is this: a young person who is unemployed, if he sells his vote for ₦30,000, what will he be paid next month when there’s no election?”
A civil society group, Situation Room, also reported instances of vote-buying, prompting monitoring by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). While minor BVAS malfunctions were recorded, voting was generally smooth and peaceful.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a total of 2,802,790 registered voters were expected to cast their ballots across 5,718 polling units. Sixteen candidates contested in the election.