The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Anambra Governorship election, Senator Andy Uba, has rejected the outcome of the vote as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He has also decided to contest the election outcome in court.
Vanguard quotes Uba, who came third after scoring 43, 285 votes as saying that: “It is surprising that APGA that lost almost 80% of its stalwarts through defection to the APC before the election came out ‘victorious’.”
“The outcome of the election was a charade and did not reflect the wishes of the people of Anambra State”, says Ambassador Jerry Ugokwe, spokesperson of the Senator Andy Uba Campaign Organisation.
The campaign organisation says its candidate was a victim of widespread electoral fraud and manipulation by INEC.
It adds that a depleted APGA, which saw its serving deputy governor in the state and about 17 state and federal lawmakers defect to the APC, could not have been in any position to win the election.
The statement from Uba’s campaign organisation reads further: “Our popular candidate, Senator Andy Uba is a victim of widespread electoral fraud and manipulation by INEC in cohort with the Willie Obiano regime and the security forces deployed to oversee the Anambra State Governorship Election.
“The elections were characterized 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 polling units.
“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 the 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% 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 Board of Trustees, many serving SA’s, SSA’s, 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!
“From all indications, the only people remaining in APGA at the time of the election were Governor Obiano and his household and a few staff of the Government House as well as Prof. Soludo and his household but the majority of the electorates in Anambra State have moved to the APC. There was definitely no way the carcass of APGA could have defeated the APC without the active collusion and manipulation by INEC and the Obiano administration.
“What happened on November 6, 2021, fell far below the acceptable standard of a free and fair election and can best be described as an electoral fraud perpetrated by the INEC, Willie Obiano administration and the security forces.
“We have noted that starting from the appointment of INEC adhoc staff, who mostly came from Calabar to the distribution of electoral materials and the retention of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, who supervised the second term election of Governor Obiano, it was crystal clear that the game plan was to overturn the popular wishes of the people of Anambra State in the biggest electoral heist of all time in Nigeria’s political history.
“While we appeal to our supporters to remain peaceful and calm, we will not relent in pursuing our stolen electoral mandate to the limit of the law through all the constitutional means available as the facts on the ground did not in any way reflect the outcome of the elections as announced by the obviously compromised INEC”.
Prof Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) was declared winner of the election with 112, 229 votes, while Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled second with 53, 807 votes.
Some of the other governorship candidates have congratulated Soludo.
President Buhari, who is the leader of the APC–which is Uba’s political party–has also congratulated Soludo, while expressing a readiness to work with him to solve some of the problems afflicting Anambra.
INEC will issue a Certificate of Return to Soludo on Friday, November 12, 2021.