The Labour Party candidate in last Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra State, George Moghalu, has attributed his loss at his polling unit to widespread vote-buying allegedly perpetrated by rival political parties.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Moghalu claimed that some candidates offered large sums of money to voters, a practice he refused to participate in.
He said his decision not to engage in vote-buying cost him votes in his own locality, as many residents succumbed to financial inducements due to economic hardship.
“Yes, because I couldn’t afford what was being paid. I refused to pay, I refused to get involved,” he said. “They have too much money to buy votes, and what do you expect my people to do? Many of them are poor.”
Moghalu specifically accused the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) of leading the alleged vote-buying operation.
He claimed that several individuals seen purchasing votes were identified as APGA agents, adding that a state commissioner was even captured on camera engaging in the act.
“Some of them were caught in the act. There’s a commissioner who was seen buying votes in my constituency,” Moghalu alleged.
The Labour Party candidate maintained that the outcome of the governorship election did not reflect the will of the people, insisting that he would have performed much better in a free and fair contest.
According to results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Chukwuma Soludo of APGA won re-election with 422,664 votes, sweeping all 21 local government areas in the state. His closest rival, Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), scored 99,445 votes. Paul Chukwuma of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) came third with 37,753 votes, while George Moghalu of the Labour Party polled 10,576 votes. Jude Ezenwafor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) finished with 1,401 votes.
Soludo’s victory secured him a second term in office, making him the third governor in Anambra’s political history to achieve re-election.
