November 16, (THEWILL) — The November 8, 2025 Anambra Governorship Election had all the condemnable characteristics of past elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, in recent times. Vote –buying, missing result sheets, presence of phones in polling booths and ineffective security. In terms of manpower, security was heavy. 45,000 policemen were drafted by the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to the scene. Other security personnel, about 15,000 in all, were contributed by the Army, Department of State Security, DSS, National Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, bringing the total number to 60,000.
The presence of these security agents, no doubt, ensured that unknown gunmen, as previously anticipated, did not interfere with the conduct of the poll. Yet the recorded scenes of vote-buying, phones in polling booths by voters and distribution of snacks, drinks and money to voters took place in broad daylight, with only a feeble arrest made by officials of the EFCC.
These criminalities were either overlooked or compromised by stakeholders directly charged with the conduct of the poll.
But for the social media, it probably would have been very difficult to learn the depth of criminality that took place during the election.
Many videos still circulating on social media show voters standing in long queues and receiving gifts of cash, snacks and canned drinks from vote buyers who distributed the items with impunity. Not even the fact that they were being recorded live bothered them. They even gave instructions in Igbo language.
Confirming this, the candidate of the African Action Congress, Chioma Ifemeludike, said that she was mistaken for a voter in her ward and offered cash to vote for a certain party. This is condemnable and a blot on the clean slate that the new INEC chairman, Professor Joas Amupitan, had promised Nigerians.
In spite of the foregoing, a winner has emerged and he is the incumbent Governor Chukwuma Soludo. He has been issued with a Certificate of Return by INEC and congratulated “for a hard -won victory,” by his party officials and members, colleagues and even the presidency. And the tainted electoral process trudges on to the next off-cycle election coming in Ekiti and Osun States in 2026!
However, the verdict out there globally, courtesy of the social media recordings, is that the electoral process as a means of consolidating democracy in Nigeria is still corrupt, unreformable and deliberately sabotaged by relevant institutions and personnel.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan had vowed to make an example of the Anambra governorship election, as a fulfilment of his pledge to conduct a free and fair election where the loser would congratulate the winner.
Also, the candidates of the African Democratic Congress, ADC; All Progressives Congress, APC; Labour Party, LP and the Young Progressives Party, YPP, who made significant showings in the poll, have all criticised the outcome as lacking in transparency and fairness.
They are not just bad losers who are bellyaching their loss. The overwhelming evidence of criminality attests to their claims. They are likely not to congratulate Governor Soludo. Now, there is the likelihood that many of the political parties that participated in the election might be involved in one form of criminality or the other, as often noticed among Nigerian politicians. It may just be a case of the highest bidder getting away with the electoral malpractices.
At any rate, the electoral malpractices ought not to have happened at all with that huge number of security agents deployed for the poll.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Queen Elizabeth Adun? had promised that the Commission would issue a report in which issues raised about the poll would be addressed.
Whatever the Commission comes up with, they should see the Anambra election as a wake-up call for an honest appraisal, particularly with the commitment of Amupitan to change the narratives regarding its past handling of past elections. The forthcoming Ekiti and Osun polls, which are scheduled to take place next year, will present another test case. If the illegalities occur with the same impunity as has happened in Anambra poll, then the 2027 general election may as well be an anti-climax.
