The 2021 Anambra State gubernatorial election took place on 6 November 2021, to elect the Governor of Anambra State. Incumbent APGA Governor Willie Obiano was term-limited and could not seek a third consecutive term. APGA nominee, former Central Bank Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, retained the office for APGA with a 24% win over PDP nominee, former Transcorp CEO Valentine Ozigbo.
The primaries were scheduled for between 10 June and 1 July, however, ensuing litigation and conflicting court rulings over primary results caused months of uncertainty over the legitimate nominees. In the primaries of the major parties, the APC controversially nominated former Anambra South Senator Andy Uba in a direct primary (until the primary was annulled in December 2021) while the YPP nominated incumbent Anambra South Senator Ifeanyi Ubah; the other two major Anambra parties (APGA and PDP) had multiple parallel primaries with later litigation to determine the legitimate nominee. INEC listed Soludo as APGA nominee in August and Ozigbo as PDP nominee in September due to court orders.
The general election was mostly peaceful but faced difficulties with expectedly low turnout, malfunctioning election equipment, and a few voided results, most notably with the election in Ihiala LGA being cancelled and rescheduled due to irregularities and insecurity. By the night of 7 November, Soludo had entered into a large lead of about 52,000 votes over Ozigbo in second; however, the election was declared inconclusive by INEC Returning Officer Florence Obi due to the cancelled election in Ihiala. Ihiala's rescheduled election was set for 9 November with the results being needed before a winner could be declared. After Ihiala voted and it was won by Soludo, INEC declared him the victor in the early morning of 10 November. In total, Soludo got over 112,000 votes and 46.5% of the vote as runner-up Ozigbo obtained nearly 54,000 votes and 22.3% of the vote. In third, Uba received over 43,000 votes and 17.9% of the vote while Ubah came fourth with about 21,000 votes and 8.8% of the vote.
The election was the first major election where the Independent National Electoral Commission used the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVA or BVAS) device and transmitted results online with polling unit workers uploading results directly to the INEC results portal. The election was also the first to use new polling units formed by INEC in June 2021. Its results were confirmed as legitimate by observers such as diplomatic missions and nonprofit YIAGA Africa, which monitored the election and ran parallel vote tabulation to confirm the accuracy of the released results. However, third placed Uba (APC) challenged the results and, along with 10 minor candidates, filed challenges at the electoral tribunal. However, in the weeks afterward, one of the minor candidates withdrew his appeal and Uba's nomination was voided after a court ruled that the APC gubernatorial primary was illegally conducted.
Electoral system The Governor of Anambra State is elected using a modified two-round system. To be elected in the first round, a candidate must receive the plurality of the vote and over 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of the state local government areas. If no candidate passes this threshold, a second round will be held between the top candidate and the next candidate to have received a plurality of votes in the highest number of local government areas.
Primary elections The primaries, along with any potential challenges to primary results, were scheduled for between 10 June and 1 July. According to an informal zoning gentlemen's agreement, the Anambra South Senatorial District was set to have the next governor with some parties closing the primaries to non-Southerners while others kept the primary open to all.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, 18 parties are fielding candidates with 17 parties holding indirect primaries and 1 party holding a direct primary.
APC The APC nomination was unofficially zoned to the Anambra South Senatorial District without formally closing the primary to aspirants from the North and Central districts, according to a candidate.
The APC announced that their primary will be held on 26 June with the expression of interest form costing ₦2.5 million and the nomination form costing ₦20 million; a 50% discount would be provided to women candidates and candidates with disabilities. On 9 June, the interim leadership of the national All Progressives Congress appointed a seven-member screening committee to approve the candidates. All 14 candidates were cleared and another seven-member committee was appointed to oversee the primary, led by Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun.
On primary day, reports of a lack of INEC and APC officials at polling units led 11 of the 14 APC candidates along with former Governor and Labour Minister Chris Ngige called for the primary to be postponed to a later date. The 11 candidates claimed that anyone who claimed that the primary was held was committing electoral fraud. However, on the early morning of 27 June, Abiodun announced that Andy Uba had won the primary by over 200,000 votes.
In the days following the primary, 7 candidates (Moghalu, Orajiaka, Okwuosa, Madu, Nwankwo, and JohnBosco Onunkwo) called for the results to be nullified and threatened to report Abiodun and his committee for announcing false results. In response, the national APC set up a five-member appeal committee led by Gombe State Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya. When INEC released the list of party nominees on 16 July, Uba was listed as the APC nominee.
In October, Moghalu sued the APC, claiming that no primary had taken place and demanding a refund on his nomination form fee. As the judge set the judgment date for 20 December, the case was not addressed prior to the election; however, Moghalu's claims received a boost after the general election where Uba received less than 45,000 votes or less than 20% of his supposed primary vote total. On 20 December, Judge Inyang Ekwo sided with Moghalu and ruled that the APC gubernatorial primary was illegally conducted, Uba's nomination was void, and that the APC must refund Moghalu's nomination form fee. A day later, Uba appealed the ruling. This ruling was upheld by an Appeals Court on 23 February 2022 and then by the Supreme Court on 26 April 2022.
Nominated
Eliminated in primary Chidozie Nwankwo, CEO of the Wichtech Group George Moghalu, managing director and CEO of the National Inland Waterways Authority Paul Orajiaka, CEO of Auldon Limited Geoffrey Onyejegbu, retired Army colonel, former military attaché to the United States, architect, and businessman Johnbosco Onunkwo, state APC chieftain and 2017 APC gubernatorial candidate Amobi Nwokafor, an accountant Ben Etiaba, a barrister, brother of PDP candidate Emeka Etiaba, and son of former Governor Virginia Etiaba Azuka Okwuosa, former Commissioner for Works and Transport Ikeobasi Mokelu, former Minister of Information and Culture Godwin Okonkwo, an Anglican Priest Edozie Madu, former National Chairman of the Independent Democrats and 2019 ID presidential candidate Igwebuike Ifeanyi Maxwell Okoye
Results
APGA Long before the primary in 2019, the APGA National Chairman Victor Ikechukwu Oye announced that the party's gubernatorial nomination would be zoned to the Anambra South Senatorial District, closing the primary to aspirants from the North and Central districts.
APGA announced that their primary will be held on 23 June with the expression of interest form costing ₦2 million and the nomination form costing ₦20 million; a 50% discount would be provided to women candidates and candidates with disabilities. The party planned to screen candidates in mid-June before the primary and to ratify the nominee at a National Working Committee meeting on 27 June.
On 14 June, the APGA screening committee announced that four candidates (Soludo, Okolo, Ibe, and Ezenwankwo) were cleared to complete in the primary along with five candidates who were not allowed to run (Ozoka, Okafor, Umeoji, and Nwankpo). However, the next day, the Jude Okeke-led faction of the national APGA intervened by moving the primary to 1 July and declaring the disqualifications null and void. The Victor Oye-led faction of the national APGA continued to state that the previous disqualifications still in place and, after INEC threatened to strike the party from the ballot, maintained that the primary would take place on its original date of 23 June. Earlier on 23 June, the Okeke-led faction attempted to suspend Soludo from the party, however, the primary went ahead at the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka with INEC observers present and Soludo emerging as the party nominee. Incumbent Governor Willie Obiano thanked party delegates and congratulated Soludo making it clear that he supported the 23 June primary, however, the conduct of the Okeke-led faction cast considerable doubt upon the acceptance of the primary across wings of the party.
The next day after the primary, on 24 June, reports stated that INEC had disqualified APGA from the election because the party failed to notify the Commission of the party congress to elect delegates for the primary. INEC National Commissioner in charge of Publicity and Voter Education Festus Okoye had previously stated that the lack of notification violated the Electoral Act 2010, however, later that day, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman Rotimi Oyekanmi claimed that APGA had not been disqualified and that reporters were misinterpreting Okoye's letter to APGA. Oyekanmi also said that the Commission did not recognize the Okeke faction or its suspension of Soludo, stating that the members of APGA leadership were on the INEC website and had not changed.
However, on 1 June, the Delta State High Court ruled in favour of the Okeke faction's primaries, throwing the APGA into further chaos as Soludo had just picked Onyekachukwu Ibezim as his running mate. Later that day, the Okeke faction held their primary on their rescheduled 1 July date having cleared Chukwuma Umeoji and Nweke Chinyere Elizabeth as candidates the day before. Umeoji easily won with 904 votes to Elizabeth's 73 votes. A third faction, led by Edozie Njoku, had nominated Njoku himself as their APGA factional nominee, however, a Federal High Court in Awka refused to recognize Njoku as APGA National Chairman and thus ending his faction's claim to the ticket.
When INEC released the list of party nominees on 16 July, Umeoji was listed as APGA nominee with the note "COURT ORDER." In Umeoji's victory speech, he thanked Okoye and pledged to work with Soludo and Obiano. On the other hand, Soludo vowed to sue, stating "I will be the candidate of APGA in the election," while Oye called INEC's acceptance of Umeoji "an embarrassment to Nigeria as a nation and its leaders." In the weeks following the INEC list release, various courts issued conflicting rulings on the legitimate nominee and/or party leadership; due to this crisis, Obiano set up a Peace, Reconciliation and Outreach Committee to resolve the dispute within the party.
On 6 August, the final day for nomination form submission, INEC accepted forms naming Umeoji as APGA nominee, appearing to end Soludo's hopes. However, on 20 August, INEC named Soludo as APGA nominee in accordance with a Court of Appeal (Kano Division) ruling that overruled the Jigawa High Court validation of the Okeke faction.
Nominated Charles Chukwuma Soludo, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Running mate: Onyekachukwu Ibezim, doctor, Special Adviser to Governor Obiano on Indigenous Medicine and Herbal Practice, and the executive director of ANSACA
Eliminated in 23 June primary Damian Chibuzor Okolo, a barrister ThankGod Christopher Ibe, Deputy Chairman of Lagos State APGA