Andy Uba, a former member of the Senate has been declared winner of the Anambra governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
This is despite the controversies surrounding the conduct of the primary and requests for its postponement
Uba, who had a sting as governor for a few months defeated 13 other aspirants to emerge the party’s candidate in the coming November 6 gubernatorial election.
Dapo Abiodun, Ogun State Governor and chairman of the party’s primary electoral panel announced the result on Sunday.
He said Uba emerged winner with 230,201 votes while his closest rival, Johnbosco Onunkwo polled a total of 28,746 votes while the total vote cast was 348, 490.
See full results
Senator Andy Uba – 230, 201
Dr. Chidozie Nwankwo – 21, 281
George Moghalu – 18,596
Paul Orajiaka – 4, 348
Geoff Onyejeagbu – 3, 414
Azuka Okwuosa – 17,189
Nwokafor Daniel – 3,335
Ikoobasi Mokelu – 3,727
Kwebuike Ifeanyi – 1,466
Godwin Okonkwo – 5, 907
Ben Etiaba – 4,244
Onuwkwo John Bosco – 28, 746
Edozie Madu – 3,636
Maxwell Okoye – 2,540
The election committee adopted the open ballot mode also known as Option A4 to conduct the primary election.
Standardobservers had reported that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, on Saturday evening demanded for the postponement of the primary in order not to disenfranchise electorates.
Ngige, also a former governor of the state in a by his media office claimed that as of 4.25pm on Saturday, there was no sign of any primary going on at his native Alor, which has two electoral wards.
“My inquiries and investigation show that the story is the same all around the 326 wards of the 21 local government areas in the state,” Mr Ngige said.
“As a result, most party members have left for home, having waited since 8am. I discussed with your member, Distinguished Senator Ken Nnamani and I’ll advise you call the Panel Members to shift the exercise to Tuesday, June 29th to also enable you tidy up some issues raised by aspirants.”
Ngige’s intervention came after protests by 11 of the 14 governorship aspirants of the party who said that the governorship primary did not hold.
Speaking for the group, George Moghalu, who made the position known in a press conference in Awka 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.
He said that 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 Mr 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.
