November 21, 2017

Chief Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, National Publicity Secretary, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has attributed the flawless conduct of the Nov. 18 Governorship Election in Anambra to President Mohammadu Buhari’s quest to build enduring institutions.

Obi-Okoye made the assertion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Awka.

He said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) could not have recorded such improved performance but for the free hand Buhari gave them to operate.

Obi-Okoye, said Gov. Willie Obiano’s second term victory was also because of the role played by security agencies before, during and after the election.

“I must commend the Police, Army, NSCDC and other security agencies for the role they played in the conduct of the election,’’ he told NAN.

“Even Obiano should not take glory for last Saturday’s election victory because the two major determinants of who wins or loses an electoral contest are INEC and the security agencies if they are allowed to do their jobs freely.

“Where you will not fault INEC in this election is that Presiding Officers did not write wrong results; the commission will further improve technically.

“Also, the credit must be given to security agencies for the critical role they played though their massive deployment discouraged some voters from participating.’’

The publicity secretary described the victory as not only for Anambra but also for the entire Igbo race in Nigeria.

“Before now, the problem of APGA in being noticed as a party with national outlook was INEC because of the way and manner they hitherto conducted elections.

“But now that it has significantly improved, APGA will take its rightful position.

“APGA also will emerge as one of Nigeria’s political party in 2019 to gain more states because we are the only party with a clear manifesto to save Nigeria from its woes,’’ he said.