OPINION: Before Andy Uba Plays Uzodinma In Anambra State

The gubernatorial election in Anambra State had come and gone with the victor and the vanquished announced officially and known. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had dutifully declared the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, as the winner of the poll. The governorship poll witnessed a low turn-out of voters. Traditionally, low voter turn-out is associated with every Anambra guber poll, so the latest electoral exercise could not be said to have been any different. It went on peacefully against the backdrop of security concerns and fears expressed prior to the election.

The Anambra state gubernatorial poll demonstrated the majesty of democracy. It met certain acceptable global democratic standards in terms of its fairness, freeness and credibility. Power and its legitimacy are obtainable legally through the ballot box. Power belongs to the people and not a clan or cabal.

Polling 112,229 votes, Soludo of the ruling APGA roundly defeated 17 other candidates, including Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (53,807 votes), and Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress (43,285 votes). While the other candidates had since acknowledged their defeat congratulating the popular winner Andy Uba who came a distant third is reportedly living in denial. He had issued a statement casting doubt over the outcome of the poll and alleging rigging and manipulation.

Emmanuel Nnamdi Uba, or Andy Uba was born on the 14th December 1958 in Enugu. He was elected Senator for the Enugu South Senatorial District of Enugu State in April 2011. He attended the Boys High School in Awkunanaw. His parents originated from Uga in the Aguata LGA of Anambra State. Senator Uba served as the Special Assistant on Special Duties and Domestic Affairs to President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The Governor-elect of Anambra State, Prof Charles Soludo had, during a live gubernatoruial debate in Awka prior to the recently-concluded governorship poll, described his rival as a glorified presidential bed-maker and shoe-shiner! However, that did not make him less qualified to govern the state than his opponents.

In a statement signed by one Amb. Jerry Ugokwe, the Spokesperson of the Senator Andy Uba Campaign Organisation, the APC candidate who came a distant third faulted the outcome because: “It is surprising that APGA which 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”.

And continuing the release added: “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 characterised by widespread irregularities, intimidation and voter suppression in order to clear the path for the inglorious ‘victory’ of APGA in the polls.”

So, if Senator Uba had won then the election would have reflected the wishes of the people of Anambra state? Utter balderdash, isn’t it? Because “80 percent’ of APGA ‘stalwarts’ (including the Deputy-Governor) defected to the APC then APGA must lose the election? Because Obiano is the incumbent Governor then he must have rigged the poll using INEC and the security forces?

Senator Uba is understandably frustrated by failing yet again to gain access to the Anambra state treasury. Having governed the state for two weeks or therabout in the distant past Uba must have known how blissful it is to be handed over the fortunes of a rich state like Anambra as the Chief Executive.

We can understand his frustrations. Yet we fail to comprehend his relentlesss quest to be Governor of a dynamic state his gang had sought to destroy in the past.

When Chris Ngige was the Governor of Anambra state, it would be recalled, Andy Uba’s brother, Chris, was the mastermind of the audacious criminal abduction of an incumbent Governor at the Government House in Awka. Ndi-Anambra had not forgotten how the bizzare drama played out at gun-point! Andy was then in Aso Rock providing executive cover to the crime against the executive institution in the state.

By threatening to head to the electoral petition Tribunal up to the Supreme Court to challenge a popular mandate handed over to Soludo Uba had shown himself as a man whose democratic credentials cannot stand any scrutiny. He is possessed of a bad faith incompatible with fair play in the game of politics.

If he had accepted the official result placing him third he could seek another opportunity at governing Anambra state in the future. (Or he feels that age is no longer or will no longer be on his side in the next four years?) But by seeking to recuperate judicially, aided and abetted by corruption, what he lost at the polls Andy Uba has become a dead man politically speaking.

He killed himself politically by his greed and cupidity. He committed political suicide the moment he sought to discredit the polls held more or less peacefully. He murdered himself politically by posing as a ‘victim’ of electoral fraud when none existed anywhere. He committed political harakiri by crying foul when everyone else were rejoicing!

 

READ ALSO:  After coming a distant third, Andy Uba rejects Soludo as elected gov of Anambra

Andy Uba must have received some valuable criminal lessons (on how to subvert a system) from Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State. The latter spectacularly wangled himself into the Government House in Owerri by exploiting the ‘judicial technicalities’ as pronounced by the Supreme ‘Cult’ in Abuja!

Yet, it remains to be seen how Andy and his judicial gang would succeed in pulling the wool over the sophisticated Anambra electorates. Perhaps he has the filthy lucre amassed during the Obasanjo ‘babacracy’ to execute the project in judicial heist but failure awaits him.

May be Andy Uba had relied on assurances of the federal might instead of campaigning vigorously for the minds and hearts of voters. With the international community monitoring the polls and ready to apply sanctions upon any rigging effort by any party the APC mob led by the Imo State Supreme Court-imposed Governor came to naught.

Now a plan B could be in the offing featuring a desperate attempt to use the compromised judiciary to upturn the people’s choice. Soludo and his party may be prepared for the judicial battle but Andy Uba must know that litigation has its limits. There is no way the majority could be wrong about the outcome of the poll. Challenging same, therefore, amounts to chasing shadows!

Now he must bury his inordinate ambition of governing Anambra State. And any attempt to judicially play Hope Uzodinma would be resisted without compromise. Ndi-Anambra cannot afford to have a Governor imposed by the Supreme ‘Cult’ instead of the one elected by them.

Before Andy Uba plays Uzodinma, therefore, he should remember that Anambra is not Imo State. Besides, Prof. Soludo is not Emeka Ihedioha or Uche Nwosu.

AUTHOR: Ozodinukwe Okenwa…

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Articles published in our Graffiti section are strictly the opinion of the writers and do not represent the views of Ripples Nigeria or its editorial stand.

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