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Says Nigeria’s electoral process getting better
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From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo has been issued his certificate of return as the winner of last Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
Speaking shortly on Tuesday after he was presented with the certificate at INEC office, Awka, Soludo praised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, for the credibility of the process, saying they have not been commended enough for the exercise.
Governor Soludo, who was accompanied by his deputy, Dr Onyekachi Ibezim, and their spouses, aides and supporters, were both presented with the certificates by the Supervising INEC National Commissioner in charge of the Anambra State election, Kenneth Ikeagu.
He stated that Section 72(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 mandates the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue a certificate of return within 14 days to every candidate who has been duly returned by the returning officer under the Act.
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Soludo, who spoke after the presentation, said, “I congratulate INEC and its new Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan. I said it before that you do not get a second chance to create a first impression. We are quite delighted here in Anambra that his first outing was here, and it was very loud. I think the whole world celebrated it. I want to use this opportunity to thank INEC and say they deserve better credit than they have been given
“And to INEC I say it again, you did well and you have given us confidence in our electoral system once again. I have always said that our electoral process has been getting better and better. Every electoral year, we look back and see that we had done better than the previous one.
“When we had a by-election in August this year, our stand was, let the votes count. Let the people vote, count the votes and announce the results. INEC did and for the first time, APGA won a Senate election with 75%, just because the votes were allowed to count.
“This time, we did it again and we said we stood for free, fair, credible and transparent elections, and INEC did it.
“Finally, I want to thank Anambra people who came out, many who stood under the sun. To the candidates, I say we are like that in Anambra, we are brothers. In 2010 I ran and even though the winner said it was a sham and scored only 30 percent, I called a press conference two hours later and congratulated him,” Soludo stated.
