The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party has accepted the verdict of the party’s Gubernatorial Congress Committee which returned Chief Tony Nwoye as the elected candidate for the Anambra State governorship poll.

National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, said that Nwoye was the party’s candidate as he emerged in an electoral process that was free, fair and transparent.

Nwoye scored the highest votes in one of the two congresses that held to select the governorship candidate of the party for the Anambra State election.

Tukur spoke while receiving the report of the conduct of the election from the GCC on Anambra State, led by the Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema.

By the decision, the party has rejected the chairman of the Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission, Andy Uba, who emerged the winner of another congress which held under the factional chairman of the PDP in Anambra, Ken Emeakayi.

Tukur hailed the committee for demonstrating to the world that the choice of the people was respected by the PDP, noting that those vying for elective positions on the platform of the PDP should be prepared to test their popularity with the people.

He said, “On behalf of the National Working Committee, I commend the committee for doing the party proud, demonstrating to the whole world that PDP belongs to the people; to conduct an election that is free, fair and open.

“As long as you are running for an election, let the people return you or reject you; we have no anointed candidate.

“The people will decide and the people have decided and they have spoken and the winner of that election has come out. This single act has vindicated our stance as managers of our party. We are going to do free, fair and transparent election because this is what democracy demands.

“The party belongs to the people and it is the people who will decide at any level of election. Let the elections be like that, free, fair and transparent at all times.”

Shema said that Nwoye was returned for polling 498 out of the total number of 902 delegates who voted in the election.

He said Nicholas Ukachukwu came second in the election with 357 votes, with other contestants scoring low votes.

The Katsina governor who handed over the electoral materials that were used for the conduct of the election to the NWC stressed that the elections were held in the presence of the security agencies in accordance with the law.

He also handed over Nwoye’s Certificate of Return to the NWC.

However, Shema did not give a definite answer when he was asked whether the elections were witnessed by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission or not.

The governor who claimed that INEC was invited referred journalists to find out from the electoral umpire if they were invited to witness the elections or not.

“You should ask INEC the question of whether they were invited or not. We don’t have any confusion, we identified the delegates, the team that was approved by the National Executive Committee, security agents were present, and the delegates voted,” he said

-Punch