US recognises Soludo as duly elected Anambra governor saying polls were credible

WASHINGTON has recognised the victory of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Professor Charles Soludo in the recently-concluded Anambra State elections calling his election credible.

Over the weekend, Anambrans went to the polls to elect a new governor and after some initial hiccups which led to the polls being declared inconclusive, Professor Soludo on the All Progressives Grand Alliance (Apga) was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec). Originally, Inec had declared the polls inconclusive because elections did not hold in a few local government areas.

As a result, Inec had planned to conduct supplementary elections in the affected areas but over the last 24 hours this became unnecessary as Professor Soludo's lead exceeded the  number of outstanding votes. Professor Soludo polled 112,229 votes, pitting him way ahead of Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 53, 807 votes and Senator Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress, who got 43, 285 votes.

With it being mathematically impossible for any of Professor Soludo's opponents to catch him, Inec declared Apga the winner of the election. In a swift response, the US embassy in Nigeria applauded the elections, saying the poll reflected the will of the people.

An embassy spokesman said: “The United States government congratulates the citizens of Anambra State for the peaceful conduct of the gubernatorial election on November 6, the outcome of which reflects the will of the people. We note the tremendous challenges faced by Inec and security force personnel on the ground and commend the efforts that led to a secure election with a credible outcome.

“We also applaud the engagement from our civil society partners for their tireless advocacy on behalf of voters and electoral transparency. We look forward to continued improvements in the electoral process as the country heads into gubernatorial elections in Osun and Ekiti in 2022 and national elections in 2023.”