The Labour Party in Anambra State has formally rejected the outcome of Saturday’s Governorship Election in the state, citing vote buying and underage voting, among other irregularities.

Addressing journalists in Nnewi on Sunday, the party’s governorship candidate, George Moghalu, alleged that the election lacked transparency.

He said, “The November 8 election has come and gone, but the truth is that it was a sham. There were issues of vote buying, intimidation of party agents, underage voting, among others.”

The LP candidate said that reports were still being compiled from the field.

He stated, “We will do a comprehensive position of the party after studying all the reports from across the state. We are still expecting a comprehensive report, but for now, we can boldly say that the election was not credible, free and fair. INEC had its own failure. In some instances, result sheets were not seen and voting were going on. If you look at the social media, there was buying and selling of votes at alarming level, probably the reason for poverty so that people can be bought with money.’’

He said that one of his major supporters in Obosi, Idemili North Local Government Area, was picked up and beaten to a pulp, despite heavy presence of security personnel.

“The security agencies promised us total security, which was why I understand that over 45,000 personnel were deployed with over 20 CPs, AIGs, and DIGs in the state. However, at the end of the day, they could not stop the visible vote buying everywhere. The entire process was faulty. We reject the outcome of the election,” he said.

Mr Moghalu further said that the party’s name was not on the ballot papers, which only had the logo.

He said, “How do you explain that to somebody who doesn’t know the logo but knows the name?”

In an interview, the party’s state Publicity Secretary, Theo Egbe, who commended the Independent National Electoral Commission’s effort, said the poll was largely peaceful.

Mr Egbe, however, decried the high level of vote buying during the election, describing it as “disheartening.”

“Every vote cast yesterday was paid for, and the average pay for each vote was N10,000.

“The most worrisome and painful thing is that the voters themselves came out prepared to bargain and sell their votes to the highest bidder,” he said.

He also said that the development portended great danger for future elections.

Mr Egbe urged INEC and security agencies to nip the menace in the bud.

Meanwhile, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Anambra State, Queen Agwu, dismissed the allegations as “unsubstantiated,” urging anyone with proof to come forward.

Mrs Agwu told journalists during an interview that no credible evidence had been presented to support the claims.

She contended that “no verified case of vote-buying was reported to the commission’s situation room throughout the exercise.”

Mrs Agwu commended the overall conduct of the election, describing INEC’s logistics and security deployment as “effective.”

The Returning Officer, Prof. Edoba Omoregie, declared Prof. Charles Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) winner of the Saturday poll.

He said Mr Soludo polled 422,664 votes to defeat his closest rival, Chief Nichols Ukachukwu of the APC, who garnered 99,445 votes.

(NAN)