George Moghalu, the Labour Party (LP) candidate in the Anambra governorship election, has explained why he lost in his polling unit in Uruagu Ward 1, Nnewi north LGA.
At polling unit 017, which has 463 registered voters, only 86 were accredited for the November 8 governorship election.
Chukwuma Soludo, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, led the unit with 57 votes, while Moghalu of the LP secured 22 votes.
Speaking on Sunday Politics, a Channels Television programme, Moghalu said he could not match the cash offered by other candidates and therefore refused to engage in vote-buying.
He added that many voters in his polling unit succumbed to the lure of money due to their financial difficulties.
“Yes, because I couldn’t afford how much that was being paid. I couldn’t pay, and I refused to pay, I refused to get involved,” Moghalu said when asked if his loss in the polling unit was related to vote-buying.
“So, they have too much money to buy votes, and what do you expect my people to do? They fell because a lot of them are poor.”
Moghalu specifically accused the ruling party in Anambra of orchestrating most of the alleged vote-buying activities.
He claimed several party agents, some already arrested for vote-buying, were seen wearing APGA tags.
“Some of them are on record as having been seen purchasing votes. There’s even a commissioner who was also caught on camera buying votes in my particular constituency,” Moghalu said.
The LP candidate further said the Anambra governorship election did not reflect the will of the people.
He insisted that he would have won if the election had been free, fair, and devoid of cash inducements.
On Sunday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Soludo winner of the election after polling 422,664 votes.
Soludo’s closest rival, Nicholas Ukachukwu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate; was second with 99,445 votes, while Paul Chukwuma of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) came third with 37,753 votes, and Moghalu of the LP had 10,576 votes in fourth place.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, John Nwosu, garnered 8,208 votes, while Jude Ezenwafor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured 1,401 votes to come in at a distant sixth.
The off-cycle election had some logistical issues, resulting in the delayed arrival of INEC officials and security operatives in some polling units.
There were also widespread incidents of vote-buying recorded across the state.
Journalists and observers deployed to the field monitored many instances of vote trading and transactional arrangements at the polling units.
In their respective conversations with the press after voting, the leading candidates confirmed receiving reports of vote-buying but accused other parties of perpetrating the act.
The governorship election recorded a low voter turnout, while INEC ad hoc officials reported several cases of BVAS glitches.
Out of over 2.8 million registered voters, 598,229 were accredited to vote. The total votes cast amounted to 595,298, while the total valid votes were 584,054.
