The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate in last Saturday’s Anambra South Senatorial by-election, Donald Chidi Amamgbo, has accused Governor Chukwuma Soludo and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of conspiring to disenfranchise voters.
INEC announced Emma Nwachukwu of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as the winner of the election, placing Amamgbo at a distant third.
However, in an exclusive chat with our correspondent in Awka, Barrister Amamgbo described the vote as a "dangerous pattern of systemic sabotage, desecration of all democratic norms, collusion, and deliberate disenfranchisement" that threatens Nigeria’s democracy.
Noting that elections are meant to be the ultimate expression of the people’s will, Amamgbo regretted that Saturday’s by-election was instead a carefully-orchestrated charade designed to suffocate and decimate the people’s voice and choice.
He alleged that INEC withheld the tags for the ADC’s ward and local government collation agents on the eve of the election, crippling the party’s ability to defend its supporters' votes at all the critical stages of collation.
“Look no further than the loquacious and bombastic statement of Professor Charles Soludo that ‘Labour and ADC parties are dead in Anambra’. If that was so, then, Anambra South is an electoral crime scene, and Professor Soludo's election malfeasance is directly to blame," Amamgbo said.
“In Ihiala, INEC went further by circulating a doctored list of polling agents that did not correspond with the authentic list duly submitted by our party and uploaded on the INEC portal. These are not mistakes. They are not clerical oversights. They are acts of sabotage.”
Amamgbo queried how an election could be free and fair when one party is denied collation agents, likening it to "asking a team to play football blindfolded while the referee looks the other way."
He also accused the APGA government in the state of normalizing vote-buying and weaponizing hunger to exploit the "already-subdued" Anambra people.
According to him, the election produced a puppet Senator-elect, tethered to the governor's control, insisting that Anambra South does not need a puppet senator, but an independent voice that works for the people.
He maintained that the victims of the alleged electoral malpractices were the people of Anambra South.
“When you deny the people their choice, you deny them justice. When you destroy faith in the ballot, you destroy democracy itself. Every time this happens, our children pay the price. A society that starves its people of hope cannot prosper.
“This election must not be swept under the carpet as ‘one of those things.’
“Today, I call for a thorough review of the entire electoral process in Anambra South to expose and address the sabotage that took place. I advocate institutional reforms within INEC to guarantee independence, transparency, and accountability.
“There should also be proper voter and agent education, so that our people can understand their rights, defend their votes, and resist manipulation, while there should be an end to the culture of collusion where political parties, godfathers, and electoral umpires work hand-in-hand to suppress genuine democratic choice."
Barrister Amamgbo said he is yet to file any legal proceedings against the exercise, as he needs time to process what happened.
