Anambra 2025 governorship poll and tasks before Soludo

 

Election is like planning for a wedding. It takes a long time but the actual wedding solemnisation takes just a day. So, the Independent National Electoral Commission gave a year notice of poll for the November 8, 2025 governorship election in Anambra. 13 activities were highlighted by INEC and 11 of those activities had actually been carried out before the new sheriff in town, Professor Joash Amupitan was inaugurated as the new chairman of the Commission. Some of the activities include continuous voters’ registration, procurement of sensitive and non-sensitive election materials, recruitment, training and deployment of poll workers, party primaries and candidate nomination, accreditation of poll agents, observers and journalists, voter education, campaigns, signing of peace accord and ultimately the voting, sorting, counting, announcement of results and declaration of winner.

After 150 days of campaign and polling, last Saturday, the candidate of the All-Progressives Grand Alliance, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, who happens to be the incumbent governor was declared the winner of the  November 8, 2025, Anambra State governorship election by the INEC Returning Officer, Prof. Edoba Omoregie who happens to be Vice Chancellor of University of Benin. Soludo, who polled a total of 422,664 votes, defeated his closest rival, the candidate of the All-Progressives Congress, Nicholas Ukachukwu, who scored 99,445 votes, while the candidate of the Young Progressives Party, Sir Paul Chukwuma, came third with 37,753 votes. According to INEC, a total of 16 candidates from various political parties participated in the election. The state had 2,788,864 registered voters, out of which 598,229 were accredited. A total of 595,298 votes were cast, while 11,244 votes were rejected across the 21 local government areas.

Before dwelling on the takeaways from the 2025 Anambra governorship election, let me first do a comparative analysis of the 2025 exercise with the previous ones.  A whopping 37 candidates vied in 2017, 18 did in 2021 while only 16 contested the last Saturday poll. While the number of Local Government Areas remains at 21 and the 326 Registration Areas (wards) remain intact, the 4,608 Polling Units of 2017 have increased to 5,720.  In 2017, INEC deployed 23,000 ad hoc staff to conduct the election while the Nigeria Police mobilised and deployed 26,000 personnel to maintain law and order during the poll. In 2021 INEC deployed 26,000 ad-hoc staff, police deployed 34,587 personnel while the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps deployed 20,000. In 2025, INEC deployed 24,000 ad-hoc staff while police alone deployed 45,000 personnel, NSCDC deployed 10,000. It is important to state that unlike in 2017, 2021 governorship election was held amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2025, there was no threat of COVID and unknown gunmen.

In terms of voter turnout in 2025 it was 21.4 per cent; the 2021 governorship election witnessed the lowest turnout of voters which INEC put at 10.27 per cent, in 2017 it was 22 per cent, in 2013 it was 24 per cent while in 2010, it was 16 per cent. In 2017 INEC used Smart Card Reader for voter accreditation while the commission chose to use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System device better known as BVAS in 2021 and 2025. While the 2017 Anambra governorship poll was concluded on the first ballot, the 2021 exercise was first declared inconclusive due to the inability of INEC to conduct election in Ihiala LGA. Supplementary election had to be conducted there on November 9 before a winner was declared. In 2025, election was concluded on the first ballot.

In previous governorship elections in Anambra State there were political debates organised by the media but to my knowledge, that did not happen in 2025.  There were reported cases of vote trading in Anambra in previous elections including last Saturday’s own. However, the electoral outcomes, save for that of the controversial 2003 governorship poll, reflected the wishes of the voters.

What are the takeaways from the November 8, 2025 Anambra governorship election? The election was peaceful and credible. Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security did their job well and neutralised all security threats before, during and after the poll. There was no shooting, killing and maiming during the campaigns and actual election. INEC officials, either ad-hoc or permanent, were not fingered in electoral manipulation. The commission uploaded 99 per cent of the Polling Unit results on its Result Viewing Portal by the evening of the election day. The BVAS worked very well across the state except some isolated instances where the device took a while before accrediting some voters. However, the election was plagued by vote trading, late commencement of vote and voter apathy. An observer group claimed that election started at 8:30 am in 49 per cent of the Polling Units while there were slight delays of about 30 minutes to an hour in many others. This is still a significant improvement on the 2021 episode.  Though the turnout is still low at 21 per cent but it doubled the 2021 figures of 10 per cent. The key takeaways here are imperative of proper planning and inter-agency collaboration.

In order to tackle apathy, I have repeatedly said that there is need to review the issue of lockdown or restriction of movement on election day, extend voting hours to about eight hours, allow for early voting for people who will be on election and essential duties such as poll workers, observers, journalists, security agents, medical personnel, etc. Prisoners should be allowed to vote just as some countries allow for voting by proxy. Most importantly is for elected leaders to deliver on their campaign promises and improve the standard of living of citizens. There is a global threat of democratic decline or reversal as citizens fail to see the connection between their votes and good governance.

The tasks before re-elected governor Chukwuma Soludo who is now a third term governor, first as Central Bank governor and now as two term governor of Anambra State is to run an inclusive government. He needs to be magnanimous in victory and welcome ideas from his opponents. Delivering on his campaign promises is non-negotiable. There is need for him to be in strict observance of Section 14(2)(b) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, as altered, by providing security and welfare for ndi-Anambra. Empowerment of youths, women and persons with disability is important. Anambra State is in dire need of significant infrastructural development. I don’t know why Igbo people think his brother governors in Abia and Enugu are performing better than him; however, he can do peer review with his colleagues in Igbo land and even Lagos to see how he can better harness the vast potentials on Anambra State who have wealthy and illustrious sons and daughters spread across the globe. It won’t be a bad idea to head hunt for them to come and serve in his government.

I.G @jideojong