Anambra Election: INEC officer collapses; Soludo, Peter Obi, Ukachukwu allege vote buying

An Independent National Electoral Commission Presiding Officer fainted during the Anambra governorship election on Saturday.

The the incident occurred at polling unit 005 in Enugwu-Ukwu in Njikoka Local Government Area.

The presiding officer, Miss Blessing Egoigwe, fainted at the heat of complaints by a thick crowd of people and confusion as a result of the malfunctioning of the BVAS.

The victim was later rushed to an undisclosed hospital for medical attention.

More than 470 voters were denied the right to vote at Enugwu-Ukwu Community ward 2 polling unit 005 in Njikoka Local Government Area.

The malfunctioning of the BVAS and the difficulty for the machine to recognise voters’ cards of newly registered voters caused the uproar.

Miss Blessing Okoye, 18-year-old and a first-time voter, said that she was denied the opportunity due to a lack of functional BVAS that failed to capture her fingerprint.

Okoye said that she was pained over the challenge and felt demoralised in the process and appealed to the electoral body to improve the system.

Governor Chukwuma Soludo voted in his Ofeiyi ward 19, polling unit 002 in Isuofia of Aguata LGA of Anambra State at about 1:30pm.

He alleged that reports he got indicated there was vote buying particularly in Nnewi South local government area, but said that he was confident of victory.

Soludo said, "Today is election day and as expected I've been getting calls all over the place, I've been receiving calls across the state and I think that one way to say it is that it has been relatively peaceful and going on smoothly.

"There have been hitches here and there, like in Orumbanasa that BVAS were not working well there but all said and done it's been well. 

"The concerns we've received is in one or two places in Nnewi South particularly where we understand there is massive vote buying with some being paid by a candidate particularly from that local government and he seems to be desperate to win his local government and he's been sharing N15,000 and I said even if he shares N100,000, never mind let the people just vote and count the votes.

"We are convinced that based on one man one vote we are going to win landslide, no doubt about that."

The 2023 Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter has said that the report he got was that there is large scale vote buying in the Anambra governorship election taking place, presently.

Obi spoke shortly after casting his vote in his Agulu polling unit in Aniocha LGA of the state.

Fielding questions from newsmen, Obi said, "My personal experience is that democracy is deteriorating in our country. Unfortunately those who are the victim from bad governance seem to be fueling it. 

"I have been able to listen from people around on what is happening today, what you see is that vote buying is on the scale of N20,000, N30, 000. The question I ask is if you sell your vote for N30,000, what is he going to be paid next month. By selling your votes you're selling no school, no hospital no Job; you're selling away your future and that is what is very worrisome. 

"Other countries, even West African countries that are close to us where I have observed elections, I didn't see this happen. So you people who are journalists you must cooperate to save the situation."

He agreed that he is still a member of the Labour Party and he supports support LP candidate, but that everybody involved in the election are all his brothers and sisters.

"I'm not in the ballot, I have been governor 13 years ago so I'm strictly in Champions League of Nigerian Politics, I'm contesting to be president of Nigeria. For people who are in 1st Division, I wish them well. I hope surely they will do very well, whoever wins let him serve the people. 

"Nigeria needs service men, we need to pull our people out of poverty, our people need to know that schools are working, it's not grandstanding, we need to rebuild the hospitals, that's why we are supporting Nursing Schools to be able to produce the man power that is required for every village to have a primary healthcare where people can go to."