‘Anambra is not Imo… votes count here’ — Soludo kicks off governorship campaign

Chukwuma Soludo, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra, has assured his supporters that their votes will count.

The governorship election in Anambra is billed for November.

Speaking at the commencement of his campaign on Saturday, Soludo said Anambra isn’t Imo state.

Soludo, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said Willie Obiano, governor of Anambra, has done very well for the state, hence the reason the people want the party to continue.

“APGA is running on a record of performance. The governor is here and has done excellently well. We are also running on a record of hope. APGA has done very well for Anambra and Ndi Anambra want APGA to continue,” he said.

“We will beg for votes; we are not taking your votes for granted, Ndi Anambra. Our target is to be able to reach the one-million vote mark in this election.

“There are some people who are not hoping to win. Even at gunpoint, Ndi Anambra won’t vote for them but they said they will conquer Anambra, not that they will win Anambra. Now, they are carrying money around to buy people, buy some politicians.

“To them, we say Anambra is not Imo. This is Anambra where votes count. This is a democracy where votes will count and if you count the votes, Anambra is APGA, APGA is Anambra.”

His comment may not be unconnected to the decision by the supreme court, which declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the 2019 governorship election in Imo.

According to the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the end of the Imo governorship election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured 273,404 votes; Action Alliance had 190,364 votes; APGA polled 114,676 votes, while APC secured 96,458 votes.

The PDP victory had been challenged in court, and in a unanimous decision in January 2020, a seven-man panel of the supreme court held that the APC candidate secured the “majority of lawful votes cast” and satisfied the requirements for the position.