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APC Rejects Anambra South Senatorial By-Election Result, Says Soludo Held Candidates Hostage
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected the outcome of last Saturday’s Anambra South senatorial by-election, accusing Governor Chukwuma Soludo of orchestrating violence and using state-backed vigilante groups to hold its candidates hostage in order to rig the poll.
The by-election was held to fill a vacant Senate seat for Anambra South Senatorial Zone as well as a seat for Onitsha North 1 State Constituency in the State House of Assembly.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, the APC state chairman, Mr. Basil Ejidike, and the party’s governorship candidate, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, raised the alarm over what they described as a deliberate assault on democracy and warned that if unchecked, such practices could derail the forthcoming governorship election in November.
Ejidike said, “The situation in our dear state, if not checked, is capable of derailing the forthcoming governorship election. We are all witnesses to the events that took place yesterday, where non-state agents took over the running of security in an election.
“The state vigilante took over the home of our senatorial candidate and his house was surrounded just to ensure that he did not exercise his franchise. You are also aware how the sitting deputy governor left his zone, the central senatorial zone, on election day to come to Anambra South, all in an effort to distract him.
“While he was distracting our governorship candidate, the vigilante was holding the party’s senatorial candidate hostage in his home. You are also aware of the killing of the APC ward chairman in Nri, and you know that Nri is the home of the deputy governorship candidate. This is to show you that all these were carefully planned.”
On his part, Ukachukwu lamented that the governorship election could descend into chaos if Soludo’s alleged strategies were not stopped. He also urged security agencies to disarm local vigilante operatives aligned with the Anambra State government.
Ukachukwu said, “One thing is obvious: the violence was much, and if this is not checked, it will affect the forthcoming governorship election. They (vigilante operatives) visit your party’s stronghold, shoot and collect electoral material, and disappear.
“I called the commissioner of police to come and see what they were doing, the commissioner insisted the election duty was headed by an AIG. I called him too and he told me he was at a scene where the Udogachi vigilante people were and that he had dislodged them. But I insisted that just sending them away was not enough because they will simply go to another location and do the same. Why not disarm and arrest them?
“Of all the things that were done yesterday, not even one arrest was made. Instead, all the people that were arrested were APC party agents who were doing their work. We are surprised that police could not make even one arrest. It was an orchestrated plan. They came to my community and were doing the same thing.
“The deputy governor came to my community and arrested our party agent. Even though he is not from that area, he was moving from place to place on election day. If I wasn’t there to calm my people, maybe the worst would have happened.
“We are saying that we are not going to fold our hands and watch them. Police, DSS must disarm Udo ga chi people, or else we will not watch them do this. The right thing must be done to ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order.
“I am even happy that with all that they did, they even awarded us about 19,000 votes. That is the kind of votes that can be gotten in one community.
“We are still optimistic we will win the governorship election. Udo Ga Chi (vigilante) must be taken out of election and the right thing must be done and we will win the election.”
