2021 gubernatorial election in Anambra State, Nigeria
The 2021 Anambra State gubernatorial election took place on 6 November 2021, to elect the Governor of Anambra State. Incumbent APGA Governor Willie Obiano was term-limited and could not seek a third consecutive term. APGA nominee, former Central Bank Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, retained the office for APGA with a 24% win over PDP nominee, former Transcorp CEO Valentine Ozigbo.
The primaries were scheduled for between June 10 and July 1, however, ensuing litigation and conflicting court rulings over primary results caused months of uncertainty over the legitimate nominees. In the primaries of the major parties, the APC controversially nominated former Anambra South Senator Andy Uba in a direct primary (until the primary was annulled in December 2021) while the YPP nominated incumbent Anambra South Senator Ifeanyi Ubah; the other two major Anambra parties (APGA and PDP) had multiple parallel primaries with later litigation to determine the legitimate nominee. INEC listed Soludo as APGA nominee in August and Ozigbo as PDP nominee in September due to court orders.
The general election was mostly peaceful but faced difficulties with expectedly low turnout, malfunctioning election equipment, and a few voided results, most notably with the election in Ihiala LGA being cancelled and rescheduled due to irregularities and insecurity. By the night of November 7, Soludo had entered into a large lead of about 52,000 votes over Ozigbo in second; however, the election was declared inconclusive by INEC Returning Officer Florence Obi due to the cancelled election in Ihiala. Ihiala's rescheduled election was set for November 9 with the results being needed before a winner could be declared. After Ihiala voted and it was won by Soludo, INEC declared him the victor in the early morning of November 10. In total, Soludo got over 112,000 votes and 46.5% of the vote as runner-up Ozigbo obtained nearly 54,000 votes and 22.3% of the vote. In third, Uba received over 43,000 votes and 17.9% of the vote while Ubah came fourth with about 21,000 votes and 8.8% of the vote.
The election was the first major election where the Independent National Electoral Commission used the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVA or BVAS) device and transmitted results online with polling unit workers uploading results directly to the INEC results portal. The election was also the first to use new polling units formed by INEC in June 2021. Its results were confirmed as legitimate by observers such as diplomatic missions and nonprofit YIAGA Africa, which monitored the election and ran parallel vote tabulation to confirm the accuracy of the released results. However, third placed Uba (APC) challenged the results and, along with 10 minor candidates, filed challenges at the electoral tribunal. However, in the weeks afterward, one of the minor candidates withdrew his appeal and Uba's nomination was voided after a court ruled that the APC gubernatorial primary was illegally conducted.
Electoral system.
The Governor of Anambra State is elected using a modified two-round system. To be elected in the first round, a candidate must receive the plurality of the vote and over 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of the state local government areas. If no candidate passes this threshold, a second round will be held between the top candidate and the next candidate to have received a plurality of votes in the highest number of local government areas.
Primary elections.
The primaries, along with any potential challenges to primary results, were scheduled for between June 10 and July 1. According to an informal zoning gentlemen's agreement, the Anambra South Senatorial District was set to have the next governor with some parties closing the primaries to non-Southerners while others kept the primary open to all.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, 18 parties are fielding candidates with 17 parties holding indirect primaries and 1 party holding a direct primary.
APC.
The APC nomination was unofficially zoned to the Anambra South Senatorial District without formally closing the primary to aspirants from the North and Central districts, according to a candidate.
The APC announced that their primary will be held on June 26 with the expression of interest form costing ₦2.5 million and the nomination form costing ₦20 million; a 50% discount would be provided to women candidates and candidates with disabilities. On June 9, the interim leadership of the national All Progressives Congress appointed a seven-member screening committee to approve the candidates. All 14 candidates were cleared and another seven-member committee was appointed to oversee the primary, led by Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun.
On primary day, reports of a lack of INEC and APC officials at polling units led 11 of the 14 APC candidates along with former Governor and Labour Minister Chris Ngige called for the primary to be postponed to a later date. The 11 candidates claimed that anyone who claimed that the primary was held was committing electoral fraud. However, on the early morning of June 27, Abiodun announced that Andy Uba had won the primary by over 200,000 votes.
In the days following the primary, 7 candidates (Moghalu, Orajiaka, Okwuosa, Madu, Nwankwo, and JohnBosco Onunkwo) called for the results to be nullified and threatened to report Abiodun and his committee for announcing false results. In response, the national APC set up a five-member appeal committee led by Gombe State Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya. When INEC released the list of party nominees on July 16, Uba was listed as the APC nominee."
In October, Moghalu sued the APC, claiming that no primary had taken place and demanding a refund on his nomination form fee. As the judge set the judgment date for December 20, the case was not addressed prior to the election; however, Moghalu's claims received a boost after the general election where Uba received less than 45,000 votes or less than 20% of his supposed primary vote total. On December 20, Judge Inyang Ekwo sided with Moghalu and ruled that the APC gubernatorial primary was illegally conducted, Uba's nomination was void, and that the APC must refund Moghalu's nomination form fee. A day later, Uba appealed the ruling. This ruling was upheld by an Appeals Court on 23 February 2022 and then by the Supreme Court on 26 April 2022.
References.
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