The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has uploaded 75.86% of results from the Anambra governorship election on its Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
A review by Channels Television on the IReV portal as of 5:10 p.m. on Saturday showed that results from 4,339 polling units had been uploaded out of the 5,720 polling units where the election was conducted across the South-East state.
This update comes just four hours after the conclusion of voting across the 21 local government areas of Anambra State.
The election, which commenced around 8 a.m., was largely peaceful, although there were reports of vote-buying and low voter turnout.
Several candidates, including the incumbent Governor Charles Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), raised concerns about alleged vote-buying.
“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 the results.”
Meanwhile, Peter Obi, former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), expressed similar concerns, alleging irregularities in the election.
“By selling your vote, you’re selling away your schools, your hospitals, your jobs; you’re selling away your future. That is what is very worrisome. In other countries, even in West African nations close to us, where I’ve observed elections, I didn’t see such practices. So, for journalists, you must cooperate; this must be stopped,” Obi said.
An election observer from the Situation Room, Dimma Nwobi, also reported instances of vote-buying.
INEC stated that 2,802,790 registered voters were expected to participate in the poll. Sixteen candidates contested the election, including Governor Soludo (APGA), Nicholas Ukachukwu (APC), Paul Chukwuma (YPP), George Moghalu (LP), and Jude Ezenwafor (PDP), among others.