Labour Party (LP) in Anambra State has rejected the outcome of Saturday’s governorship election, alleging widespread vote-buying, underage voting, and intimidation of party agents, among other irregularities.
Speaking at a press briefing in Nnewi on Sunday, the party’s governorship candidate, Mr. George Muoghalu, described the election as lacking transparency and credibility.
> “The Nov. 8 election has come and gone, but the truth is that it was a sham,” Muoghalu said.
“There were issues of vote-buying, intimidation of party agents, underage voting, among others.”
He explained that the party was still gathering reports from its field agents across the state to prepare a detailed assessment of the election.
> “We will do a comprehensive position of the party after studying all the reports from across the state.
We are still expecting a comprehensive report, but for now, we can boldly say that the election was not credible, free, or fair,” he stated.
The LP candidate faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for logistical lapses, claiming that in some polling units, result sheets were unavailable even while voting was underway.
> “If you look at social media, there was buying and selling of votes at an alarming level. Probably that’s why poverty is weaponized — so people can be bought with money,” he added.
Muoghalu also alleged that one of his major supporters in Obosi, Idemili North Local Government Area, was assaulted despite the heavy security presence in the state.
> “Security agencies promised us total security. I understand that over 45,000 personnel were deployed, including 20 Commissioners of Police, AIGs, and DIGs.
Yet, they could not stop the visible vote-buying everywhere. The entire process was faulty, and we reject the outcome of the election,” he said.
He further raised concerns about the absence of the party’s name on the ballot papers, which only displayed the logo.
> “How do you explain that to someone who knows the party’s name but not the logo?” he queried.
Meanwhile, the LP’s State Publicity Secretary, Mr. Theo Egbe, while commending INEC for conducting a largely peaceful exercise, condemned the scale of vote trading witnessed.
> “Every vote cast yesterday was paid for, and the average pay for each vote was ₦10,000.
The most painful part is that voters themselves came prepared to bargain and sell their votes to the highest bidder,” Egbe lamented.
He warned that the development poses a serious threat to the integrity of future elections and called on INEC and security agencies to urgently tackle the menace.
However, Mrs. Queen Agwu, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Anambra, dismissed the allegations as baseless, urging anyone with evidence to present it.
> “No verified case of vote-buying was reported to the commission’s situation room throughout the exercise,” Agwu said, while commending the election’s logistics and security arrangements as “effective.”
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Returning Officer, Prof. Edoba Omoregie, declared Prof. Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) winner of the poll with 422,664 votes, defeating Chief Nicholas Ukachukwu of the APC, who polled 99,445 votes.
