•Exercise scandalous, unacceptable – Ngige, Moghalu, others
SENATOR Andy Uba, who won the controversial primaries of All progressives Congress, APC, for the November 6 Anambra State governorship election is already looking beyond the exercise as he calls on his other 13 co-aspirants who lost the primary to support him to enable the party win the November election.
Uba is not new in Anambra governorship poll. In 2007, he won and was sworn in, only to be removed by the Supreme Court on the ground that the election he won ought not to have taken place.
His emergence, though faulted by his opponents, who described the primary as a sham, was not a surprise as his preparation for the primary started during the party’s revalidation and registration earlier in the year during which his men mobilized adequately to ensure that Uba’s supporters were registered in large numbers in all the political wards in the state.
However, there was confusion in APC as soon as the chairman of the APC primary election panel and Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun declared Uba winner at Golden Tulip Hotel, Agulu Lake in Anaocha Local Government area of the state.
The result showed that Uba polled 230,201 votes out of 348490 votes cast, while his closest rival, Johnbosco Onunkwo polled 28,746 votes in the Option A4 method adopted by the Abiodun electoral panel.
That declaration did not go down well with the other aspirants, as well as some stakeholders in the party, including the Anambra State leader of APC, Senator Chris Ngige, who had asked the national leadership of the party to conduct a credible primary for the party if the party hopes to win the governorship election.
Ngige said he waited for the exercise all day but there was nothing in his community. He said information he received from other parts of the state showed that there was no primary.
However, Uba insisted that the direct primary as directed by the party, took place in all the political wards of the state, adding that he did not see any reason for anybody to fault the exercise. According to him, the panel that conducted the primary was satisfied with the process that produced him.
In fact, Governor Abiodun of Ogun State, while announcing the winner said Uba met all the requirements by securing 25 per cent in two –thirds of the 21 local government areas of the state.
In the words of Uba, the APC members who voted at the primary know the capacity of all the aspirants and decided that he is the right person that can effectively challenge candidates of other political parties.
At the Udoka Housing Estate campaign headquarters of Senator Andy Uba, the joy of his supporters knew no bounds as dancing troupes, women groups, youth organizations, stakeholders, including notable politicians in the state, have turned the area into a busy scene.
Several campaign committee meetings have been taking place both in the campaign office and in his Uga, Aguata local government country home to map out strategies for his emergence as the next governor of the state.
However, Dr Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment said the primary election did not hold in the state on Saturday and proposed June 29 for a repeat of the exercise.
The Minister said he was in his Alor Community for the exercise and there was nothing like voting in the two wards in the town, adding that it was the same in all the wards in the state.
Also faulting the exercise, the aspirants and some local government and ward chairmen of the party corroborated Ngige’s statement, wondering where the committee generated the figures it used to announce the winner of the primary.
Their spokesperson, Chief George Moghalu said in all the 326 electoral wards of the state, delegates came out to vote, but no APC team in charge of the conduct of the primary or the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, officials were seen.
Moghalu said: “The opportunity to participate was not provided for us the aspirants and the party members to choose who they want as the flag bearer. Elections have two planks namely, the primary and the main election and what a party does in the primary reflects what to expect in the main election.
“We consider what happened on Saturday as embarrassing and scandalous. We find it unbelievable that election did not hold and a committee headed by a sitting governor would disapprovingly come out to announce the results that they wrote in whatever corner they were, either in a bedroom or even outside the state.
“We therefore reaffirm that election did not take place in any part of Anambra on 26th June as initially planned.
“All the aspirants have been on the road in the last nine months trying to reach out to the people and building support bases and we encouraged our supporters to come out and vote at the designated points but nothing happened.
“They started distributing materials around 6pm far after the scheduled election time. In the guideline, four hours were provided for the exercise to end by 6pm. And the annoying aspect of it was that somebody was announcing the result on facebook.
“What they are trying to do is to endanger our party in this state and that we refuse to accept. We want free, fair and credible primary so that a candidate can be chosen. If we decided to do it by consensus, they should require our consent. That is what the constitution of the party says. You cannot shave somebody’s head in his absence. Certainly, we will seek justice in any manner that is appropriate.”
A legal practitioner, Mr. Anthony Agbasiere said it was unfortunate that outsiders were usually used to cause trouble whenever there is election in Anambra State and urged the people not to be giving such outsiders the opportunity to create disharmony among the people.
He said: “Whenever there is election here, they bring people from outside Igbo land to come and determine what happens and in the process cause confusion and leave. We are all brothers and external people should not come here to tell us how to nominate our candidates.
“The solution to the problem is for the parties to conduct credible primaries for the parties by our people. If people think they are marketable, they should subject themselves to a proper exercise and people will support them.
“While I am not against any particular person, people who spend their money and other resources to purchase forms should be allowed to participate in the process. The implication of what is happening is that if APC is found to have defaulted in the process of nomination, it will lose everything about the November election.
“I suggest that with the time running out to meet the INEC guideline, the party can use super delegates to nominate a credible candidate, just like the PDP did.”
