Lagos — Even as some of them are still smarting from defeat, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State has asked his opponents in last Saturday's governorship election to join hands with him in building a better state. And in a rare display of statesmanship by a Nigerian politician, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has congratulated Obi and pledged his support.

Obi, who was officially declared winner of the election on Sunday morning by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told a world press conference later in the day: "As for my brothers and sisters who contested the election with me, I commend them for their patriotism and desire to serve our people.

"You have no doubt put up a gallant fight. What is most important now is that we remain good brothers and sisters that we have been over the years and join hands in building a better Anambra State for ourselves and our children." His major opponents - Dr. Chris Ngige (Action Congress), Chief Andy Uba (Labour Party) and Soludo - have however protested over the conduct of the election.

But Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan and the Nigeria Governors Forum have congratulated Obi while the PDP has attributed its loss to "irreconcilable differences" within the party. The result announced by the Resident Electoral Commissio-ner (REC) in the state, Mr. Josiah Uwazuronye, showed that Obi of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) polled a total of 97,843 votes to beat his closest rival Ngige who poled 60,240 votes. Soludo came third with 59,355 and was closely followed by Uba who polled 26,106.

Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu and Mrs. Uche Ekwunife of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) and Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA) respectively scored 20,777, and 9,595 votes. Obi led in 13 out of the 21 local government areas, namely Onitsha North and South, Awka North and South, Ogbaru, Ekwusigo, Aguata, Anambra West, Orumba North and South, Njikoka, Ihiala and Anaocha. Ngige won in the council areas of Dunukaofia, Nnewi North, Idemili North and South, while Uba won in Ayamelum Local Government Area.

Soludo won in Oyi and Anambra East Local Government Areas. The HDP won in Nnewi south, while the rest of the parties did not make any appreciable impact. Obi will be sworn in for another four years on March 17 when his current tenure expires. While declaring Obi the winner, Uwazuronye said he had satisfied all the requirements in the electoral laws. Reacting to the victory, the APGA National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, said he was elated with the victory more especially with the breaking of an age-long jinx that had never seen any governor of the state being re-elected.

At a press conference, leader of the INEC Anambra Election Monitoring Board, Mr. Ikeazor Akaraiwe, said INEC's sensitive materials arrived Awka, the state capital, two days before the election, noting however the discrepancies in the voters' register were very obvious but were not substantial to affect the outcome of the election. When the board noticed that a lot of people hadn't their names in the registers, Akaraiwe said it took a decision to allow voters with INEC cards to vote.

The chairman of the NUJ National Monitoring Group, Ambrose Nwachukwu, described the outcome of the election as a reflection of the people's wishes, noting that the election was generally peaceful. But the PDP blamed its failure on what it described as irreconcilable differences and divisions in the state chapter of the party. The party also described the defeat of Soludo as "very unfortunate", but said that it would study the entire process and come up with the party's position.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Professor Rufai Ahmed Alkali, blamed the Anambra PDP members who were still aggrieved of their refusal to put their house in order and support the party's candidate. Jonathan, in a statement signed by Ima Niboro, his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, congratulated Obi over his re-election victory. Jonathan also lauded the people of the state for their peaceful conduct during the election, which he described as an indication by Nigerians to make democracy work in the country. Said Jonathan: "This was an indication that the electoral reforms of the present administration were beginning to have an effect on the nation's political culture." Obi, in his address, said the election was unique in several respects: "One, it was the only one that was conducted throughout Nigeria yesterday. Two, the entire world literally monitored it either directly or indirectly.

Thirdly, although the age-old inadequacies of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in terms of poor preparation, late arrival of electoral materials, etc, manifested, they were minimal. "However, in spite of the foregoing, vote-counting, collation and announcement of results were relatively transparent. I wish to commend the INEC, election observers and monitors in this connection. For this singular reason also, I accept the result of the election as declared by INEC, namely, that I won this election."

The Nigeria Governors' Forum said Obi "has been an active and indefatigable member of the NGF and we are delighted that his people have re-affirmed their faith in him by ensuring his victory at the polls". It is not all congratulations, though, as Ngige and Soludo have have rejected the result of the election. Both men said the result was based on the various flaws inherent in the exercise occasioned by INECs "administrative incompetence" to organise a standard election in the country. Addressing a press conference in Awka yesterday, Ngige said he was already consulting his legal team for a possible petition in court. According to Ngige, "Governor Obi utilised government house security to carry out arrests of political opponents all through the election. Our party agents were also targeted and removed in a Toyota Coaster bus with ANGH plate number. Our party ran the election in Onitsha North without anybody protecting our interest and in that regard, APGA had a field day thumb printing and stuffing ballot boxes.

There were also reported cases of ballot boxes snatching at Fegge and returning same already stuffed with ballot papers." Also, Uba called for the outright cancellation of the result of the election, alleging irregularities, lamenting what he described as the non-provision and unavailability of adequate quantity of ballot papers. Even though Soludo had congratulated Obi on being declared winner of the election, he observed that the election was marred with irregularities. He said: "This experience has among other things revealed to me how desperately Nigeria needs fundamental electoral reforms.

A situation where INEC determines whether and where voters can exercise their right to vote as in the case of Anambra cannot augur well for our nascent democracy, together we can fix this problem let me use this opportunity to congratulate my friend Mr Peter Obi in spite of the grave flaws, INEC has declared you the winner of the election. The fight is not about us, but about the future of Anambra State. You will have my support."