Anambra guber race: Disregard Uba’s petition, APC chief tells NWC

Prominent businessman and an aspirant in the August 26, 2017 All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary in Anambra state, Chief Madu Nonso, has called on the national leadership of the party to dismiss the petition of Senator Andy Uba over the outcome of the APC gubernatorial primary in Anambra State, adding that the allegations levelled against the party’s flagbearer, Hon. Tony Nwoye, were fabricated, baseless and unfair.
He charged Uba, who had after the declaration of Nwoye as winner, accepted the results in good faith, to co-operate and work closely with the party’s candidate and other stakeholders ahead of the November 18 governorship poll.
According to Madu, it is not only unfortunate but also ridiculous that Uba, who had promised to uphold the party’s decision, is now rejecting the outcome of the primary election.
The assertions were made in a statement by Madu on Monday.
It reads: “My attention has been drawn to a petition written by Senator Andy Uba, addressed to the Anambra State Governorship primaries appeal committee of the APC. I had earlier expressed disbelief when sahara reporters made a publication, accusing Senator Andy Uba of putting pressure on members of the committee to annul the primary election. I had doubted the authenticity of the report, due to the way senator Andy Uba commended the entire process while voting was ongoing with all assurance that he was going to emerge victorious. Having seen the petition, i must say that i am unimpressed that our distinguished Senator would descend to this level to tarnish an exercise that was painstakingly organised by His Excellency Governor Kassim Shettima-led electoral panel, adjudged to be the best so far conducted. In the petition, Senator Andy Uba accused Dr Tony Nwoye of bringing thugs/NANS members into the accreditation venue to chase away delegates. This is not true as the accreditation was conducted peacefully. Delegates were identified through the following means- Permanent voters card (PVC) National ID card, drivers license or International passport. They also came with their party membership slip with photograph issued to them by the party during registration. The party had already made the delegates list available to all aspirants, 2 weeks before the primaries. With the delegates known, there was little room for manipulation. The Nigerian police force led by Anambra state police commissioner Umar Garba, the DSS and other security agencies provided adequate security at the accreditation venue, making it nearly impossible for the venue to be infiltrated by thugs. Our dear Senator Andy Uba even attested to this during his interview with pressmen at the accreditation venue. The allegation that delegated were swapped is simply laughable. After accreditation, delegates were conveyed to the voting center on marked buses with full police escort. There was no room for any maneuver as the delegates had no physical contacts with outsiders. The road leading to the voting venue was not even accessible to commuters and other road users, as it was cordoned off by security agencies, making it impossible for any non-accredited person to gain entrance to the venue. Most importantly, during voting proper, once a local government is called, the various ward chairmen are called to vote first, and then line up in front of the hall to identify delegates from their ward who then proceed to cast votes. The allegation of presence of thugs at the venue is untrue, except if Senator Andy Uba is now referring to genuine APC members as thugs simply because they did not vote for him. Senator Andy Uba also alleged that some delegates have gone to court to depose affidavits on what transpired. The party should note that this is their usual tactics of scuttling elections once it doesn’t go their way. It is a PDP tradition which they want to import to our peaceful APC and must be resisted. Our party leaders should note that this tactics was used in 2013 to scuttle the ambitions of the same Tony Nwoye after he defeated the same people in a primary televised live on national TV. The litigation went all the way to the Supreme Court and by the time judgment was delivered Dr Tony Nwoye had just 10 days to campaign. Despite the short time left for him to campaign, he still came 2nd in the general elections”.