By Chuks Collins, Awka
The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo has received the Certificate of Return for his victory in the Saturday, 8 November, 2025 governorship election in the state, reports thegazellenews.com
In a brief remark shortly after receiving the Certificate, as a confirmation of his triumph in the just concluded Governorship election process, Prof Soludo commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), its Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan and staff for the credibility of the process that produced him as the winner.
Accompanied by his wife and proponent of “Healthy Living”, Nonye, the Governor was also accompanied by his deputy, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim and his wife; to the state headquarters of the electoral commission for the brief but very strategic ceremony.
Their official aides, friends, well wishers and party chieftain and supporters witnessed the presentation of the certificates by the Supervising INEC National Commissioner in charge of the Anambra State election, Kenneth Ikeagu.
Before handing over the documents to them, Ikeagu noted, “We are here to present the certificates of return to the Governor and Deputy Governor of Anambra State, following their successful outing during the state governorship election held on Saturday, November 8, 2025.
According to him, “Section 72(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 mandates the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue a certificate of return within 14 days to every candidate who has been duly returned by the returning officer under the Act.”
Beaming with smiles, Soludo said, “I congratulate INEC and its new Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan.
“I said it before that you do not get a second chance to create a first impression. We are quite delighted here in Anambra that his first outing was here and it was very loud. I think the whole world celebrated it. I want to use this opportunity to thank INEC and say they deserve better credit than they have been given.
“There is indeed hope for this country. I always see Nigeria and half full, not half empty. I thank the security agencies, they stood firm and insisted that the will of the people must not be subverted.
“We had unprecedented turn out, almost 600,000 people came out. The very first time in history of Anambra State, a candidate got 73% of the total votes cast, winning 98% of all the wards and 99% of all the polling units. There are several local governments where we didn’t lose even one polling unit
“So, I want to once again appreciate the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu for his very firm stand that this is a multi democracy and that the votes of the people must count
“And to INEC I say it again, you did well and you have given us confidence in our electoral system once again. I have always said that our electoral process has been getting better and better. Every electoral year, we look back and see that we had done better than the previous one.
“When we had a by-election in August this year, our stand was, let the votes count. Let the people vote, count the votes and announce the results. INEC did and for the first time, APGA won a Senate election with 75%, just because the votes were allowed to count.
“This time, we did it again and we said we stood for free, fair, credible and transparent election, and INEC did it.
“Finally I want to thank Anambra people who came out, many who stood under the sun. To the candidates, I say we are like that in Anambra, we are brothers. In 2010 I ran and even though the winner said it was a sham and scored only 30 percent, I called a press conference two hour later and congratulation him”.
