George Moghalu, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the Anambra governorship election, has explained that he lost his polling unit in Uruagu Ward 1, Nnewi North Local Government Area because he did not participate in vote buying.
At polling unit 017, which has 463 registered voters, only 86 were accredited for the November 8 governorship election.
Winner of the election and candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chukwuma Soludo, led the unit with 57 votes, while Moghalu secured 22 votes.
Speaking on Sunday Politics, a Channels Television programme, Moghalu said he could not match the cash offered by other candidates and therefore refused to engage in vote-buying.
He added that many voters in his polling unit succumbed to the lure of money due to their financial difficulties.
“Yes, because I couldn’t afford how much that was being paid. I couldn’t pay, and I refused to pay, I refused to get involved,” Moghalu said when asked if his loss in the polling unit was related to vote-buying.
“So, they have too much money to buy votes, and what do you expect my people to do? They fell because a lot of them are poor.”
Moghalu specifically accused the ruling party in Anambra of orchestrating most of the alleged vote-buying activities.
He claimed several party agents, some already arrested for vote-buying, were seen wearing APGA tags.
“Some of them are on record as having been seen purchasing votes. There’s even a commissioner who was also caught on camera buying votes in my particular constituency,” Moghalu said.
The LP candidate further said the Anambra governorship election did not reflect the will of the people.
