Anambra Election: Andy Uba Emerges APC Governorship Candidate

A former Senator, Andy Uba, has been declared winner of the Anambra governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held on Saturday.

Despite the controversy surrounding the primary, officials said Uba defeated 13 other aspirants to emerge as the party’s governorship candidate in the coming November 6 election.

The chairman of the APC primary election panel and governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, announced the outcome of the poll at Golden Tulip Hotel, Agulu Lake, Awka, early on Sunday.

Governor Abiodun said Uba emerged the winner with 230,201 votes while his closest rival, Johnbosco Onunkwo polled a total of 28,746 votes.

The total vote cast was 348, 490, the Ogun governor said.

The election committee adopted the open ballot mode also known as Option A4 to conduct the primary election.

Earlier, 11 of the 14 governorship aspirants of the party had on Saturday said the governorship primary did not hold.

The spokesperson for the aspirants, George Moghalu, made the position of the group known in a press conference in Awka the Anambra State capital.

Moghalu said in all the 326 electoral wards of the state, people came out to vote, but that none of the APC team saddled with the responsibility to conduct the primary and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials were seen.

The managing director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Moghalu, 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.

Two other aspirants, Paul Orajiaka and Edozie Madu corroborated the position of Moghalu and warned that the era when one man would come up with fake figure to claim victory was over.

The aspirants, however, appealed to the party’s leadership to come up with a fresh date for the primary to ensure that the party beat the deadline set by the Electoral Act.

Other aspirants at the event were Johnbosco Onunkwo, Ben Etiaba, Amobi Nwaokafor, Chidozie Nwankwo, Geoffo Onyjegbu, Azuka Okwuosa, among others.

With the announcement by Abiodun, it meant the complaints were all ignored.