Anambra: Why I Am Going To Court – Andy Uba

By Charles Igbo

Professor Charles Soludo, the Governor-elect of Anambra State, has, at least, one case challenging his victory, waiting for him.

And the case will proceed to the last Court in the land, the Supreme Court.

Since he was declared the winner of the Governorship election in the early morning of November 10, Soludo has been receiving congratulatory messages from across the country including from President Muhammadu Buhari, the Southern Governors’ Forum, and even his competitors in the election. Soludo, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, was the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.

The first runner-up, Valentine Ozigbo, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, even though he had some reservations over the election, was the first to congratulate him. The other candidates followed same route. A number of Party Chieftains from across political parties have also congratulated him. So has former President Ibrahim Babangida.

Both the Missions of the United States of America, USA, and Britain  commended the exercise.

But Senator Andy Uba, the candidate of the President’s party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, disagrees with everybody on the outcome of the exercise.

He says the election was fraught with fraud. He says the result, as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is the direct opposite of what it was. That it was the direct opposite of what was on ground. He says he won the election. That the people wanted him, and voted overwhelmingly for him.

He said his victory was truncated by the outgoing Governor, Willie Obiano, in connivance with some security agencies and INEC officials.

He wondered how Soludo could have won, given that about 80% of high profile politicians in the State, defected to the APC  to support  his candidacy. Some of those who he referred to are the serving Deputy Governor of the State, Dr. Nkem Okeke, a member of APGA’s Board of Trustees, some serving and former members of both House of Representatives and Anambra House of Assembly, a serving PDP Senator, Stella Oduah, and a number of Governor Obiano’s Aides. He dismissed the entire exercise as “a charade”

Based on the above, Uba says it is impossible for Soludo to have won. Therefore, he says, he would challenge Soludo’s victory.

His resolve is contained in a statement signed on behalf of his Campaign Organisation by Ambassador Jerry Ugokwe, a former PDP chieftain, who is now of the APC.

The statement, rejecting the outcome of the election, entitled Senator Andy Uba rejects  the outcome of Anambra Governorship election reads in part:

“The elections were characterised by widespread irregularities, intimidation, and voter suppression in order to clear the path for the inglorious ‘victory’ of APGA in the polls.

“For instance, in polling units  where the Biometric  Voters’ Accreditation System malfunctioned, INEC  went ahead to conduct the elections manually. There were numerous cases where votes announced by INEC exceeded the number of accredited voters in the polls.

“Another clear manifestation  of collusion between the Obiano administration and INEC was the publishing of results on the Social Media handles of APGA even before official announcement by INEC. Yet, mysteriously, the votes announced in advance by APGA, always corresponded, correctly,  with the official figures released by INEC.

“It is inconceivable that our candidate who polled over 200,000 votes in the APC primary election would be allocated slightly above 43,000 votes by INEC.

“It is surprising that APGA that lost almost 80 per cent of its stalwarts through defection to the APC before the election came out ‘victorious’. A sitting APGA Deputy Governor, seven members of the House of Representatives, 10 members of the Anambra State House of Assembly, the APGA party’s member of the Board of Trustees, many serving SAs and SSAs, in addition to a serving PDP Senator all defected to the APC very timely before the election, yet, APGA emerged ‘victorious’. This is quite ridiculous.”

The statement said Uba would challenge his stolen mandate to any limit allowed by law.

For the records, Soludo won 19 out of Anambra’s 21 Local Government Areas. Ozigbo won one, and Ubah of the YPP won one. Senator Andy Uba won no LGA out of the 21.