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Anambra 2021: Senator Uba emerges APC governorship candidate, 11 other aspirants reject results

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by

Olaotan Falade
in ,

A former Senator who represented Anambra South Senatorial District, Andy Uba, has been declared winner of the governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

Uba emerged the winner in the primary election contested by 13 other aspirants.

Declaring the results of the exercise on Sunday morning at the Golden Tulips Hotel, Agulu, Anambra State, the Chairman of the Anambra State Primary Election Committee and Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, said Senator Ubah polled 230, 201 votes out of the total votes of 348,490, to defeat his closest rival, Onunwoku Johnbosco who polled 28, 746 and 12 other contestants.

Abiodun said the election took place in 20 out of the 21 Local Government Areas of the state, noting that the election could not hold in Onitsha South due to the failure of the Returning Officers to conduct the election after collecting election materials from the committee’s secretariat.

The governor further disclosed that an Option A-4 method was adopted in the election, and blamed the delay in the conduct of the election as scheduled on the failure of the contestants to supply 30 of their representatives as directed by the committee.

According to him, only nine aspirants had supplied their representatives to the committee as at 9:00 am on Saturday.

Abiodun explained that despite the minor hiccups, Returning Officers, backed by security escorts were posted to all the 326 wards in the state, declaring that “the process was free, fair, transparent and in line with the party’s guidelines, as promised by this committee”.

The election committee chairman, however, debunked insinuations from some of the contestants that the exercise was deliberately delayed, pointing out that his committee only needed to be thorough and transparent.

He added that the minor delay was not the fault of the committee or that of the party members, but that of logistics.

Abiodun thanked party members and all stakeholders, especially the committee members, who according to him were carefully chosen for the task. He also called for all hands to be on deck to ensure victory for the party in the coming governorship election.

No primary held in Anambra – 11 aspirants

Meanwhile, eleven of the 14 governorship aspirants of the party have said the June 26 governorship primary in the state did not hold.
Dr George Muoghalu, spokesperson for the aspirants, made the position of the group known in a press conference on Saturday in Awka.
Muoghalu said that in all the 326 electoral Wards of the state, people came out, but were disappointed, saying that none of the APC team saddled with the responsibility to conduct the primary and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials were seen.
Muoghalu, the Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and one of the aspirants, said anybody who claimed that there was primary is fraudulent and did not wish APC well in the November 6 election.
Paul Orajiaka and Edozie Madu, both aspirants, corroborated the position of Muoghalu and warned that the era when one man would come up with fake figure to claim victory is over.
The aspirants, however, appealed to the party leadership to come up with a fresh date for the Anambra primary to ensure that the party beat the deadline in the Electoral Act.
Other aspirants at the event were Johnbosco Onunkwo, Ben Etiaba, Amobi Nwaokafor, Chidozie Nwankwo, Geoffo Onyjegbu, Azuka Okwuosa, among others.