Anambra election: Ex-minister Chidoka decries low turnout of voters

A former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, has bemoaned the low turnout of voters in the just-concluded Anambra Governorship election.

Chidoka took to his Facebook page to berate people who believe that votes do not count during elections.

He decried the voters’ apathy from the election, claiming that less than 10 per cent of registered voters in the state determined the winner of the election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday declared Chukwuma Soludo as the winner of the election which was held on November 6.

A visibly angry Chidoka, who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), wrote: “You sat at home screaming ‘no elections’, 104,037 voters determined the Governor of Anambra State; less than 5 per cent of registered voters.

“The elected Governor will oversee state budget of at least N400 billion over the next four years. If you add local government funds, it will be over N700 billion.

“You sat at home and said voting does not count; the election is already rigged. Two hundred nineteen thousand five hundred eighteen persons (219,518); less than 10% of registered voters went out, and the parties bought votes from between N1,000 and N5,000 per vote.

“If voters don’t count, why did the politicians buy votes? At an average of 3,000 per vote, a governor can be elected with less than N350 million by a hungry minority. If one million voters had come out, it would have been difficult. Mad people everywhere…”