By CHARLES IWUOHA

An All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) group, Media Warriors has dismissed the claim by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Andy Uba, that the Anambra guber election was marred by irregularities.

The group said the former Senator who came a very distant third in the November 6, 2021, poll was duped by defectors, stressing that he (Uba) should thank his stars that he even won his ward in the election.

Uba had, after a stakeholders’ meeting in Awka on Saturday, said he has discovered that besides having enough grounds to challenge the declaration of Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo as governor-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the entire election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the rules governing such exercise.

He said: “I will start by thanking God who kept us all alive throughout the campaign and the election. Let me once again thank everyone that contributed to this election in one way or the other. Your efforts were not in doubt and I thank you all.

“Investigations show that there are sufficient grounds for me and the party to challenge the declaration of the APGA candidate, Soludo, as winner of the election by INEC and that the ideal thing to do in the face of such discovery is to approach the tribunal for redress.

“We will be heading to court with the discoveries we have, which shows that the declaration of Soludo as the governor-elect is faulty.

“As governor, I was removed after 17 days of being sworn in by the Supreme Court of Nigeria and I did not die. So, the current development won’t hurt me. Power belongs to God and He alone determines who He will entrust it to. This, I can assure you.”

However, the National co-ordinator of APGA Media Warriors Forum, Chinedu Obigwe, in a press conference in Awka, the Anambra State capital, said Uba’s decision to challenge the outcome of the poll in court would compound his woes.

He said: “Ndi Anambra will defend the mandate they gave to Soludo and will not allow Andy Uba to steal their mandate through the court.

“He claimed that Anambra electorate voted for him and, at the same time, alleged that the election witnessed wide spread manipulation.

“Uba is the only one that holds this strange opinion about the concluded Anambra election. Majority of his party members led by Senator Chris Ngige, George Moghalu and many others, are of the opinion that the election was peaceful, free, fair, credible and devoid of manipulation, hence the reason they congratulated Soludo.

“Andy Uba should wake up from his slumber so that he will realise that he was duped by those that defected to APC during the electioneering for the November 6th election.

“None of them joined APC to help him win the election, rather they joined APC to get their own share of the money he was sharing.”

Update news