Rancour trails contentious Anambra gov’ship primaries
The just concluded governorship primaries of the three major political parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to elect their flagbearers ahead of the November 6 election
The primary elections, which took place at different venues in the state, created fresh divisions and cracks among chieftains of the political parties. While the APGA and PDP had parallel primaries, that of the APC is being contested as some aspirants alleged that there was no election before Senator Andy Uba was declared winner. They called for the cancellation of the exercise and disbandment of the election committee.
PDP
Before the PDP primary election, a faction of the party had gone to court in Abuja, asking for the disbandment of the Ndubuisi Nwobu-led executive. The prayer was granted.
The faction, led by Chris Uba/ Chukwudi Umeaba, argued that having secured a court judgement as the authentic executive of the party, they had the sole right to conduct the primary election.
Subsequently, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party dissolved the Nwobuled executive and ordered that super delegates be used for the election.
The super delegates conducted their own parallel primary at the Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka, where Mr Valentine Ozigbo emerged as the party’s candidate, while Chukwudi Umeaba had another primary at the St Paul Primary School, Awka, where Senator Ugochukwu Uba emerged as candidate.
Both factions claim legitimacy, having been recognised by the party’s national body and the court respectively.
Daily Trust on Sunday recalls that it has always been the tradition of the PDP in the state to hold parallel primaries whenever there is a governorship election.
Chris Uba, who is the arrowhead of the Umeaba faction, said his faction was the only executive of the Anambra PDP, given the court judgement, so their candidate should fly the ticket of the party.
The other group, whose election was conducted by the national body, led by the deputy governor of Edo State, Philip Shai’bu, said the party was supreme and there is a subsisting court order in their favour.
According to Shai’bu, the Umeaba primary was not binding on the party.
APGA
In the APGA, before the conduct of the primary election, some aspirants considered as strong contenders were disqualified, apparently to pave way for the emergence of the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof Charles Soludo.
The disqualified aspirants did not participate in the primary held at the Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka. Soludo was subsequently declared the winner of the primary.
Few days after the primary, another group led by the factional national chairman of the party, Edozie Njoku, conducted another primary. Njoku declared himself as the governorship candidate of the party. He claimed to be the authentic national chairman of the party and said he was elected by consensus to fly the party’s flag in the forthcoming poll.
According to him, Soludo’s emergence as the candidate of the party was encumbered by ligation and pronouncements of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
APC
The APC primary election in the state that produced Senator Andy Uba as winner is being rejected by 11 out of 14 aspirants in the party.
The governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, announced the outcome of the poll at Golden Tulip Hotel, Agulu Lake, Awka, early on Sunday, declaring Uba the winner.
Abiodun said Uba emerged the winner with 230,201 votes while his closest rival, Johnbosco Onunkwo, polled a total of 28,746 votes. He said a total of 348, 490, votes were cast in the primary election.
He said the election committee adopted the open ballot mode, also known as Option A4, to conduct the primary election.
However, the 11 aspirants and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, claimed that there was no primary election in the state and there was no way Andy Uba could have emerged as the party’s candidate.
They said the governorship primary did not hold and they cannot accept result from it.
The spokesperson for the aspirants, George Moghalu, said in all the 326 electoral wards of the state and delegates came out to vote, but none of the APC team in charge of the conduct of the primary and the INEC officials were seen.
According to him, anybody who claimed that there was primary is fraudulent and does not wish APC well in the November 6 election.
He 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.
Also, a statement by the publicity secretary of the APC in Anambra State, Okelo Madukaife, dissociated the party from the primary election.
According to the statement, “Our attention has been drawn to a set of figures circulating in the internet without signature or attribution and purported to be Anambra APC primary election results. The figures do not owe to Anambra State APC primaries, which did not hold and for which we look forward to the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led National Caretaker Committee of our great party to choose a new date within the INEC timetable.
“In the time being, the figures should be discarded and discountenanced as they are figments of futile imagination, with the potential of being fatal.”
The minister of labour and employment said there was no way they could accept the outcome of the election when there was none in the state to select the party candidate.
However, Andy Uba stated that he validly won the primary election and urged aggrieved aspirants to support him to win the governor seat for the party.
According to him, he had suffered same lost in the state and yet supported whoever that emerged the candidate in the state governorship election
According to him, the campaign to win the governorship election in the state cannot be achieved on a divided camp; hence the need for all to come together for the greater task ahead.
He said that there was strength in unity, noting that there is no need for division, which has stunted the development of the party over the years.
He said that primary election that produced him as candidate was free and fair.
“I ask you to join me to walk this road to victory. I have been in your shoes several times, where I was not lucky, but I joined the victor to try to achieve victory for our party,” he said.
In the APGA, before the conduct of the primary election, some aspirants considered as strong contenders were disqualified, apparently to pave way for the emergence of the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof Charles Soludo