61-year-old ex-governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, has been declared winner of the Anambra Governorship Election by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The Returning Officer of the Anambra Governorship Election, Prof Florence Obi, announced the result in the early hours of Wednesday at the INEC office in Awka, Anambra State.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar on Wednesday said, “That Charles Chukwuma Soludo of APGA, having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,”

Soludo won with 112,229 votes beating Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party, (53,807 votes), and Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress (43,285 votes).

Ifeanyi Ubah of the Young Progressive Party came fourth with his 21,261 votes.

The former Central Bank Governor’s road to victory was fraught with several challenges which included legal battles and intra-party squabbles.

However, the Supreme Court in Abuja affirmed him as APGA governorship candidate after the sacking of the party’s former candidate, Chukwuma Umeoji, by the court.

Umeoji, who is the current member of the House of Representatives representing Aguata Federal Constituency in Anambra State, was recently sacked by a court decision after his name had been listed by the Independent National Electoral Commission as APGA’s candidate.

The court then ordered INEC to replace Umeoji with Soludo as the validly elected candidate of APGA for the governorship election.

Soludo is expected to be sworn into office next March after the expiration of the two-term tenure of the incumbent governor, Willie Obiano, who is also of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.