Protest has continued to trail the victory of the APGA candidate for the 2010 governorship election, Mr. Peter Obi in last Saturday’s election in Anambra state.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner for Anambra state, Mr Josiah  had at exactly 9:45am on Sunday morning announced Mr. Peter Obi the incumbent governor of the state, and the APGA candidate for the 2010 Anambra governorship election winner. Obi polled a total of 97,843 votes out of the total votes of 284,547 valid votes cast.

Obi was followed from a distant far by the AC governorship candidate Dr Chris Ngige who polled 60,240 votes.

The National Chairman of the APGA, Chief Victor Umeh told journalists immediately after the announcement of his candidate as the winner that he was sure of victory as Obi has campaigned round the state. He said that Anambra people simply wanted to return Obi because of the marvelous work he has done in the state. He said that Soludo's promise of building Anambra into African Dubai-Taiwan was not realistic, as such the people simply voted against him.

The state chairman of the Progressive People Alliance in Anambra state, Chief Frank Igboka has protested the victory of Obi. He told journalists that the result of the election as announced by INEC is not accepted to the party. He said that after taking a cursory look at the election and articulating its plans, the party would deploy its legal machinery to move to the court. The PPA is not alone in the claims of malpractice, the AC candidate and the PDP candidates also think the same.

The Election Monitoring group however refused to listen to the candidates complains, they affirmed that the election is largely free and fair, even though there were flaws in some areas.

The chairman of the Election Monitoring Group, Barr Ikeazor Akaraiwe who held a press conference on behalf of the group said that the election is free and fair, while commending the INEC, the police and other groups for the success of the election.

Akaraiwe said that though there were pockets of violence in most areas of the state, but the malpractice was not limited to any candidate in particular as almost all of them were involved.

A coalition of Civil Society organizations accredited by INEC to monitor the election also in a separate press conference held at the Sun city Hotels told journalists that the election was largely free and fair.

Meanwhile, in a state wide broadcast yesterday, Governor Peter Obi has expressed satisfaction with the credibility of the election as conducted by INEC. Obi said that this is the beginning of the conduct of a free and fair election in the country. He said that if INEC were doing what it did in Anambra before now, the people would have had some respect for it. Obi called on fellow contenders to join hands with him to move the state forward.

"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 brothers and sisters that we have been over the years and join hands in building a better Anambra state for our beloved children."

Obi commended INEC for the conduct of the election, saying that it was free and fair and that he accepts the result as he was declared winner. When asked how he feels having won a second term, a feat deemed rare in Anambra, Obi said it is victory for all, especially the state.

"I have called Ngige and other candidates with the hope of getting them to work with us. All differences we had as candidates have become past, no one has a monopoly of ideas, so we intend to work with them."

Obi said the first thing he did when he was declared the winner was to go and look at some of his files in readiness for litigations. He affirmed that he is ready to meet any aggrieved party in court saying, "but honestly, there is nothing to go to court about because if I look at it from that angle, I have something to go to court about too.”