The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Governor Charles Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) the winner of the Anambra Governorship Election.

Freedom Square TV gathered that the INEC Returning Officer for the election, Edoba Omoregie, vice chancellor of the University of Benin, announced this on Sunday morning at the state collation centre in Awka, the state capital.

Mr Omoregie, a professor and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said Mr Soludo scored 422,664 votes to defeat his closest challenger and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nicholas Ukachukwu, who polled 99,445 votes.

He said the Labour Party candidate, George Moghalu, came third with 10,576 votes, while his counterpart from the African Democratic Congress, John Chuma-Nwosu, claimed the fourth position in the election with 8,208 votes.

“That Soludo Charles Chukwuma of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, having satisfied all the requirements of law and scored the highest number of votes in this election, is hereby declared winner and is returned elected,” the returning officer declared.

Mr Omoregie said a total of 2,788,864 voters registered for the election, but only 598,229 of them were accredited during Saturday’s poll.

The official said a total of 584,054 valid votes were recorded in the poll, while 11,244 votes were voided out of the 595,298 total votes cast.

According to the results, Mr Soludo won in all the 21 local government areas of the state.

This is the second time an individual has won in all 21 local government areas during a governorship election in Anambra State.

The immediate past governor of the South-eastern state, Willie Obiano, was the first to achieve the feat in 2017 when he was reelected under the APGA platform.