Anambra Poll: Ikemba Front Won’t Congratulate Soludo Until…. Awogu
Ikemba Front, a political support group within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra says it will not Gov. Chukwuma Soludo on his victory at the Nov. 8 governorship election until his victory is proven in court.
Chief Arinzechukwu Awogu, the National Coordinator of Ikemba Front said this on Wednesday when he paid a condolence visit to the family of Alphonsus Nweze, veteran journalist who died recently in Asaba.
Nweze died in an auto crash while returning home from work in October.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday declared Soludo winner of the contest.
Soludo won the Anambra governorship election with 422,664 votes ahead of Dr Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 99,445 votes and the YPP’s Chief Paul Chukwuma who came third with 37,753 votes.
Awogu said Ikemba Front would not congratulate Soludo on his declaration by INEC alleging that the election was fraught with malpractices and that the process to an elective office was more important than the office itself.
He said the group would keep the flames of APC in Anambra burning while remaining supportive of every move considered by the party’s governorship candidate, towards reclaiming his mandate.
“We went into the election hoping to see a free, fair, transparent and credible election but what we saw was a flagrant and mindless rape of democracy.
“There were no result sheets in most of the polling units at the time of commencement of voting, there was deployment and use of political thugs and widespread inducement of voters with cash.
““The process of getting into an office is far more important than the office itself, it confers legitimacy and the corresponding respect and acceptance. by the people.
“But in this case Gov. Chukwuma Soludo did not measure anywhere close and that is why Ikemba Front will not congratulate him and will not recognize him as governor beyond March 17, 2026, unless the court says otherwise,” he said.
Awogu said the election was also marred by voter apathy as turnout was lower that previous election and expressed surprise that INEC declared figures higher than previous editions.
He said Ikemba Front was worried about how INEC got the figures it quoted and how it was possible with the cases of missing result sheets and malfunctional BVAS in most places.
He said security personnel were used against members of the opposition while the APGA monetarised the election in a brazen manner that had never been seen before in Anambra .
“In all sincerity we think INEC has questions to answer on the electoral process too.
“Our collation officers were chased away in many places.
“It’s not about the result declared and who was declared winner by the INEC, it’s about the integrity of the process.
“When you are set for a race and the other man is armed with a springboard it becomes an uneven contest,” he said.
Awogu said Ukachukwu would be compelled by empirical evidence of multiple fronts of monumental rigging that took place to seek redress, and maintained that nobody within APC including Ikemba Front was in a position to congratulate Soludo.
He said he had addressed some party agents and supporters in his Onu-Iyi Haven residence in Atani where he appreciated them for going into the election half motivated, half equipped and zero mobilised by the national leadership yet performed impressively .
According to him, “had all things been equal, the outcome would have been different. You were not defeated, you were only disarmed by the national leadership of the party on t
he eve of the battle in conspiracy.
