TheCable

Akachukwu Nwakpo, candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the ongoing Anambra governorship election, on Tuesday, cast his vote in support of Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

The November 6 election was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow for a supplementary election in Ihiala LGA where no poll took place.

This was after results from 20 out of 21 LGAs in the state had been collated and announced.

Though 18 candidates are contesting, the major contenders are Soludo who is leading with 103,946 votes, Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 51,322 votes, and Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who had secured 42,942 — as of Sunday.

After voting for APGA in the supplementary election on Tuesday, Nwakpo said since his party did not secure enough votes after collation on Sunday, he decided to support “the winning party”.

He said the results of the election announced so far reflects the wish and mandate of the people, adding that Soludo is his friend.

“We believe it is time to finish this election by helping the winning party to make it to the end, so that the military can leave and we can have a more relaxed environment for us to focus on issues that concern our communities,” Nwakpo said.

“Also, the leadership of my party, ADC, agreed with what we have done because we are not in the supplementary election and we did not score or get enough votes to be competitive.

“APGA is also a sister party because the founding members of APGA founded ADC and I also came from APGA to ADC. More so, professor Chukwuma Soludo is my friend.

“So, I feel this is an opportunity to support one another and for us to build together and let our people be part of governance.”

Nwakpo commended INEC for ensuring the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) worked efficiently during the supplementary election.

He also urged other governorship candidates and political parties to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship and peace.