Anambra Governorship Still Winnable For PDP- Ozigbo

Awka – The Governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP for the November 6 election in Anambra State, Mr. Valentine Ozigbo, on Monday called on the Anambra electorate to turn out enmasse to support the PDP at the supplementary election scheduled in Ihiala Local Government Area on Tuesday, November 9.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had on Sunday, announced suspension of collation of results for the governorship election, pending when the Ihiala polls will be concluded, in line with the extant laws.

In the results announced so far for the 20 Local Government Areas, the PDP trails behind the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, having gotten 51,322 votes.

The candidate of APGA presently has 103,946 votes.

But in an interaction with journalists in Awka on Monday, Ozigbo expressed optimism that the polls could change the fortune of the party, given the large number of registered voters in the area.

“I wish to use this medium to urge our teeming supporters, and the generality of Anambra voters, especially those domicile in Ihiala, that it’s not yet over.

“In Ihiala alone, we have about 140,000 registered voters.

“Other areas where supplementary elections will hold, such as Awka North, Orumba North, Idemili North etc, have over 100,000 registered voters.

“Our desire is to upturn the deficit to our advantage. Chances are still there for PDP to overtake.  The election is still winnable for PDP,” he said.

Ozigbo maintained that he joined the Anambra Governorship race because he was uncomfortable with the way Anambra’s economy had dwindled under the present state government.

“My reason for joining the governorship race is because of my discomfort about the situation of Anambra State.

“I believe that Anambra deserves the best.

“This is why I left what I considered my comfort zone to delve into this project,” he said.

Ozigbo, the immediate past president and group CEO of Transcorp Plc, who commended INEC for digitizing the voting process, also called on the electoral umpire to ensure that voters will not be disenfranchised in the rescheduled polls; emphasizing that overwhelming number of Anambra electorate could not vote due to malfunctioned bimodal machines.

“A lot of irregularities resulting from the new technology deployed by the INEC for the conduct of election, marred the process.

“We observed that a lot of the personnel were learning on the job while the machine malfunctioned in many places.

“Some persons had to leave because the machines were not working.

“So, the massive turnout by our people was greeted by the failure of the BVAS,” he lamented.

Ozigbo hoped that INEC will rectify the issue in Tuesday’s supplementary election and ensure that Anambra people are not disenfranchised.

 

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