The Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC)has congratulated the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo on his resounding victory in the Saturday 6th November 2021, Anambra State gubernatorial election.
The council in a statement signed by it’s National Chairman Dr Leonard Nzenwa and made available to Channel Network Afrique indicated that the victory was well deserved.
IPAC also congratulates the good people of Anambra State who trooped out en masse to vote for candidates of their choice despite earlier threat, apprehension and tension of disrupting the exercise. Today, the people have spoken loud and clear, and have elected Professor Soludo , APGA candidate as their governor.
The Council commends the peaceful conduct of the Anambra electorate while performing their civic duties in spite of malfunctioning of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in some polling units which compelled INEC to extend voting period to Sunday November 7, and conducted a supplementary poll in Ihiala Local Government Area on Tuesday 9th November, to enable eager voters to exercise their franchise.
IPAC salutes the patriotism and resilience of Anambra electorate who shunned violence and refused to sell their collective destiny for a mess of electoral porridge offered by disgruntled politicians. It is democracy at its finest and worthy of emulation.
Part of the statement reads: The success of the Anambra governorship poll has reinforced Nigerians’ belief in constitutional governance. It is a giant step forward in consolidating our frail democracy and make Nigeria great again.
IPAC commends INEC for a peaceful Polls but calls on the Commission to improve on its performance. Despite hitches encountered during the exercise, the election was free, fair, credible, transparent, peaceful and acceptable to stakeholders. The use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System which performs the dual function of fingerprint and facial authentication of voters which replaced Smart Card Reader (SCR) used since 2015 to accredit voters and abolition of incident form that enabled a prospective voter not accredited by a smart card reader to cast his ballot, all combined to give credibility to the election. The challenges encountered should be quickly rectified for effective use in future elections.
IPAC also applauded the security agents for their professionalism during the exercise.
The council further expressed it’s joy that the people of Anambra State hearkened to its plea to go out and vote as the alternative is presidential declaration of state of emergency which negates democratic ethics, tenets and ethos.
IPAC urges the governor-elect, Professor Soludo to justify the confidence the people reposed in him and his party that has been in power since March 2007. He should run an inclusive government and demonstrate the spirit of sportsmanship by being magnanimous in victory. He should effectively tackle insecurity in the state as security and welfare of the people are the primary purpose of government in accordance with Section 14(2)b of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Soludo should also bring his wealth of experience to bear in governance, attract foreign investments that will boost the state’s economy and implement people-oriented projects.
It is time for progressive governance and delivery of dividends of democracy. The people expect and deserve quality leadership to assuage their sufferings.
 | ReplyForward |
