The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Sly Ezeokonwa, has dismissed allegations that the party engaged in vote buying during the recent Anambra gubernatorial election.

Speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast programme The Morning Brief on Wednesday, Ezeokonwa described the claims as “shocking,” arguing that APGA neither had the financial capacity nor the resources to influence voters through monetary inducement.

“The claim that the ruling party was involved in vote buying, I do not agree. I think the best way to describe it is shocking, shocking in the sense that I do not understand the deep pocket that APGA had to control the resources to generate the number of votes that we did,” he said.

Ezeokonwa questioned how APGA, without federal backing or vast financial resources, could be accused of vote buying when rival political parties had access to far greater funding.

He maintained that the party’s success was instead a reflection of the people’s appreciation of Governor Charles Soludo’s developmental policies across Anambra State.

“There is a hypothesis we tested in this election, and that was to see how much the politics of development can translate into what the governor calls political capital. From our campaign trajectory, we saw that when development is brought to the people, they, in turn, show ownership of the process,” he explained.

According to him, the campaigns across Anambra’s 179 communities and 326 wards were largely community-driven, with local residents organising, funding, and inviting the governor to engage them on his achievements.

“The communities organised themselves, rented canopies, stages, and invited the governor to come speak about his impact. At the end of the day, they gathered their legal resources and donated in aid of the campaign. That is what I call ownership. We have never witnessed such a thing in this country,” he said.

Ezeokonwa added that APGA’s performance reflected genuine public support rather than financial manipulation, insisting that the party’s victory was built on credibility and grassroots connection.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday issued a certificate of return to Governor Soludo, following his re-election.

This came two days after Soludo and his deputy were declared winners of the poll by the electoral body.

INEC said Soludo, the candidate of APGA, secured 422,664 votes, while Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 99,445 votes.

Paul Chukwuma of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) came third with 37,753 votes, while John Nwosu of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) scored 8,208 votes.

George Moghalu of the Labour Party (LP) and Jude Ezenwafor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 10,576 votes and 1,401 votes, respectively.

The electoral umpire said that out of a total number of 2,788,864 registered voters, 598,229 were accredited for the election.

It also said that of the total number of 595,298 votes cast in the election, 584,054 were valid while 11,244 were rejected.

According to INEC, 16 political parties participated in the election. (CHANNELS)