Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has expressed strong confidence that his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), will secure a landslide victory in the ongoing Anambra governorship election—regardless of alleged vote-buying attempts by rival political parties.
Speaking to journalists after casting his vote on Saturday, the APGA candidate said that reports from across the 21 local government areas indicated that the exercise was largely peaceful, with only minor glitches involving the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in a few polling units.
“It’s been relatively peaceful and going on smoothly,” Soludo said. “In some polling units in Oloobanasa, we got reports of BVAS malfunctioning, but overall, the process is as expected.”
The governor, however, decried reports of massive vote-buying, particularly in parts of Nnewi South Local Government Area, alleging that some voters were being paid as much as ₦15,000 each by a “desperate” candidate.
“Even if they share ₦100,000, it doesn’t matter,” Soludo declared. “Let the people vote. We’re convinced that, based on one man, one vote, APGA will win — and win by a landslide.”
When asked about voter turnout, Soludo declined to speculate while voting was still ongoing, but he noted that APGA ran a comprehensive grassroots campaign across all 21 LGAs and 326 wards.
The governor also alleged that some political actors were plotting to manipulate results during the collation process.
“There’s a party that told agents not to upload results on IReV so they can tamper with figures during collation,” he claimed. “But we have confidence in INEC and in the vigilance of our people. We will follow the process from the polling units to the state level.”
Soludo reaffirmed his trust in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), urging voters to remain calm and patient as counting continues across the state.
“Once the system works as it should,”he said confidently, “APGA will win all 121 local governments.”
