Winning Ogbaru Re-Run Election A Do Or Die Affair – Soludo

Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra state has charged top government functionaries led by the Political Adviser to the Gov­ernor, Alex Obiogbolu, to do everything they can to make sure All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) wins the Ogbaru Federal Constit­uency rerun election.

The election is slated for Saturday, April 15, the re-run has been rescheduled in 45 polling units scattered in Okpoko, Ogbaru and Ossoma­la communities.

The governor gave the charge when he met with some stakeholders from Og­baru Local Government Area, urging them to take Ogbaru by all means.

Further meetings were held between Soludo’s advisers and stakeholders from Ogbaru where they were threatened if the election is lost.

At a meeting held at the office of the State Commis­sioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Hon. Collins Nwabunwanne, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) chieftains agreed to make available wrist bands that would grant only APGA supporters unfettered access to the polling area, a source close to the meeting disclosed.

Among those, who attended the meeting were the Director General of the APGA cam­paign in Okpoko area, Kenneth Akwuobi, popularly known as Okwulora; the Councilor repre­senting Ward 5, Frank Okorie; Chief Louis Ipere, Chairman, Nkpikpa Landlords Associa­tion; David Ezike, and one Ikpe, an Iyiowa resident.

It would be recalled that at the end of voting on Saturday, February 25, 2023, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Hon. Afam Ogene, led the APGA and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates to second and third places, respectively.

Although Hon. Ogene led both candidates by over 1,000 votes, it was not enough to de­clare him outright winner, as his margin of lead was smaller than the number of registered voters in units where elections did not hold within the federal constituency.

The affected polling units were those elections did not hold due to INEC’s inability to deploy materials as a result of violence while in some elec­tions were cancelled due to over voting, etc.