
APC makes U-turn, denies calling for cancellation of Anambra election results

All Progressives Congress (APC) Anambra chapter has denied a statement it purportedly issued, last Sunday night, calling for the cancellation of the November 6 and 7 Anambra State Governorship election even while it was still ongoing.

State chapter chairman, Chief Basil Ejidike, who refuted the earlier statement credited to him, made the clarification at a news conference at the party’s state secretariat Monday, November 8, saying the earlier report was ‘fake.’

“I was surprised that several reports were circulated in the social media saying that APC called for the cancellation of the election, that the chairman of APC fainted and also lost his polling unit.
“All the reports were fake, and at no time did I make such statement in the media,” he said.
The APC chairman explained that the party could not have made such a statement while the process was still ongoing.
“There is no how we could have called for the cancellation of the results in an ongoing election.
“But all we are advising the electoral umpire at this stage is for them to right the wrong because there are a lot of flaws recorded during Saturday governorship election,” he said.
It would be recalled that the APC state chairman, had in a statement issued, Sunday night, in Awka, accused the incumbent Governor Willie Obiano and the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Charles Soludo, of rigging the election.
“What is happening in Anambra is never an election but big time electoral fraud and malpractice.”
According to the state chairman, the party will not accept the outcome of the election.
Ejidike said the APC won in all the local government, but Obiano and Soludo conspired with some corrupt Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officers to overturn the whole process in favour of APGA.
The state chairman then called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel the election and fix another date for a fresh election that would be free of manipulations and malpractices.
According to him, if the electoral commission goes ahead to declare APGA the winner of the election, the APC will waste no time in challenging the process at the court of law.
He added that the people of Anambra want an APC Governor and there is nothing anyone can do to deny them that opportunity.
Ejidike said that what the party was doing was to let the commission address the problem as in Ihiala where a supplementary exercise was arranged.
The call to cancel the poll from the state chairman had also drawn the ire of the Orumba chapter stakeholders of the APC who distanced themselves from the position as they described the submissions of Basil Ejidike as ‘Inconsequential and does not hold water.’
In a statement reportedly signed by the Secretary, APC Orumbra North Local Government Area, Chukwuemeka Nnebe, Monday, the stakeholders blasted Ejidike for the call, as they called him a ‘fifth columnist that is against the democratic process that we have today him as a member.’
The stakeholders further queried the state chairman on his position as they asked; ‘What locus does Basil Ejidike have to challenge the outcome of the election when the process that produced the candidate of his party the All Progressives Congress APC leaves much to be desired?’
“Our attention has been drawn to the statement by the Anambra state Chairman of the All Progressives Congress APC Mr Basil Ejidike where he called for the cancellation of the November 6th Gubernatorial election in the state.
“It has become instructive that we address this issue squarely and to make it clear that Basil Ejidike belongs to the fifth columnist that is against the democratic process that we have today.
“What locus does Basil Ejidike have to challenge the outcome of the election when the process that produced the candidate of his party the All Progressives Congress APC leaves much to be desired.
“Anambra people have spoken going by the results already announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC and the rantings of the opposition cannot change the wishes and aspirations of Ndi Anambra to sustain the socioeconomic development of our dear state.
“We congratulate His Excellency Gov Willie Obiano, the National Leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA for the victory in eighteen local government areas and it has become clear that Anambra electorates have chosen their governor hence the submissions of Basil Ejidike is Inconsequential and does not hold water.
“We urge members of the public to discountenance the statements of Ejidike which is a case of bad loser,” the statement read.