The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday issued certificate of return to Chukwuma Soludo, winner of the November 6 Anambra governorship election.

INEC national commissioner supervising Anambra, Festus Okoye, presented the certificate to Mr Soludo and his deputy governor-elect Onyeka Ibezim in Awka.

Mr Soludo, who ran on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) dedicated his victory to “God and the people of Anambra who believed and gave us their mandate.”

Continuing, he said, “We will never take for granted the resilience, commitments and actions of the various federal institutions that worked so hard to see us to this day.”

Soludo commended the Presidency, security agencies and INEC for insisting on a level playing field as well as the judiciary for standing on the path of integrity.

In his remarks, Nwachukwu Orji, INEC resident commissioner in Anambra, said the commission had done its best to deliver a credible election.

Mr Orji, represented by Chima Duruaku, the Administrative Secretary of INEC, commended the people of Anambra for the maturity displayed before, during and after the election.

“The calming of the storm that was raging very hard was divine and on a human level, the commission was resolute to put in a lot of sacrifices, efforts and innovation to deliver.

“The support of the security agencies, the National Youth Service Corps and the military contributed to the success that we celebrate today.

“We also commended the peaceful conduct of political parties in spite of the doomsday prediction and the singular resolve by the Anambra people that the election must be done,” he said.

Mr Soludo polled a total of 112,229 votes to defeat his closest rival, Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 53,807 to emerge second.

(NAN)