INUKWA!!! PDP candidate, Ozigbo Says He Can Still Win Anambra Election -By Isaac Asabor

There is no denying the fact that anyone that has been following the electoral trend in the ongoing gubernatorial election in Anambra State will agree with this writer that politicians have, more than ever before, been exuding hope and optimism towards emerging victorious at the poll; perhaps after the conclusion of the supplementary poll been conducted in Ihiala today, November 9, 2021.

Without any iota of exaggeration, one politician that has been exuding hope and optimism, and who is invariably the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the ongoing Anambra governorship election, is Mr. Valentine Ozigbo. He has reportedly said that the contest is not over and remains ‘winnable’ for him.

Ozigbo, who stated this at a news conference in Awka, expressed the hope that the PDP would close the gap if electoral officials and materials were effectively deployed on time for the supplementary election slated for Tuesday, which is today, in the Ihiala local government area of the state.

Seen from the foregoing perspective, it can be said that he is a dyed-in-the-wool optimist, particularly when analyzed from the perspective of the ongoing election in Anambra State and given the fact that he has over 50,000 vote deficiency compared to Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo who is unarguably leading as the already declared results from 20 LGAs showed that he polled a total of 103,946 votes, more than twice that of Ozigbo, who got 51,322 votes.

When a typical Anambrarian sees something or event that is perplexing, he or she will exclaim, “Inukwa”. It is against the backdrop of the exclamation that the headline of this piece was coined. In fact, it is difficult to grapple with the fact that is inherent in his self-assured statement. Unarguably ruminating over his statement, not few political observers are wondering whether the shenanigans that played out in Imo State in 2019 when the third became the first in an election that was fairly contested would be replicated in Anambra State. To the question, the foregoing line of thinking can never become a reality as Ozigbo is not affiliated to the All Progressives Congress (APC). In fact, it is already a street talk that “Anambra Nor Be Imo” as some youths were sighted adorning T-Shirts that bore the strong message. Again, the massive presence of IPOB in Anambra State can never allow such shenanigans to be replicated in the state. Added to the foregoing is the unprecedented wide margin of votes between Soludo and other contestants.

Ozigbo reportedly said the election would continue beyond Tuesday provided the margin of lead was less than the number of registered voters in places where there were proofs that elections did not hold, and added that apart from Ihiala, which had more than 148,000 registered voters, there were places which the party had proven there was no election with over 100,000 registered voters.

He explained that Ihiala alone could upturn the result with the level of awareness going on, adding that INEC must ensure that voters did not encounter the frustration they had on Saturday again by making sure that proper deployment was made and machines were functional.

“I want to assure the good people of Anambra that the election is not over, it is still winnable for us, the PDP.

“The over 248,000 votes in Ihiala tomorrow and other places is enough to change the situation, I call on our people to remain hopeful and make it possible by coming out to vote.

“There was no low turnout of voters on Saturday, what we had was technology induced challenges which denied many people the opportunity to vote.

“While we commend INEC for their effort to improve the electoral process with technology, we want to acknowledge the imperfection that marred the exercise, it was a big experiment we did not deserve,” he said.

Ozigbo blamed ‘denominational’ and ‘money’ politics for the current outcome of the process while calling on Anambra electorate to de-emphasize them in order to get the best of the contestants.

Ozigbo’s sanguine disposition on his expected victory in the election has no doubt become extremely convoluted for most political observers to grasp. While some have been saying “This is Nigeria”, a female professional colleague of mine working with one of the National Newspapers after reading the story called me on phone to express her bewilderment over the confidence which Ozigbo exuded in the face of the wide margin between his total scores and that of Soludo at the poll. She couldn’t say much after the tele conversation other than to scream “Inukwa”. 

Results declared so far indicated that the APGA candidate has not only scored the majority of the votes, but has met the constitutional requirement of winning in 18 out of the 21 local governments areas of the state.

Given the weight of the statement made by Ozigbo that “It is not over”, it is expedient to warn the kingmakers in government, particularly the INEC,  that nothing should happen to the lead position which Soludo has already earned at the poll based on the results officially announced so far that have given him victory in 18 local governments. Aptly put, the results are so transparent to be toyed with, and doing anything funny with the result will be “democratic sacrilege”.