Andy Uba rejects Soludo’s victory, vows to reclaim his ‘stolen mandate’

Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the October 6 and 9, 2021 governorship election in Anambra State, Sen Andy Uba, has rejected the results of the election announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Daily Trust reports that with 112,229 votes, candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Prof. Charles Soludo was declared winner of the election.

Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Valentine Ozigbo, polled 53,807 votes, and Uba polled 43,285 votes.

President Muhammadu Buhari has already congratulated Prof. Soludo, on his victory at the polls.

But in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, the Spokesman for the Uba Campaign Organisation, Ambassador Jerry Ugokwe, said the election was a charade, adding that Uba would use legal means to “reclaim” his mandate.

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“The outcome of the election was a charade and did not reflect the wishes of the people of Anambra State.”

“Our popular candidate, Senator Andy Uba is a victim of widespread electoral fraud and manipulation by INEC in cohorts 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.

“For instance, in polling units where the Biometric Voters’ Accreditation System malfunctioned, INEC went ahead to conduct the elections manually. There were numerous cases where votes announced by INEC exceeded the number of accredited voters in polling units.

“Another clear manifestation of collusion between the Obiano administration and INEC was the publishing of results on the Social Media handles of APGA even before official announcement by INEC. Yet mysteriously, the votes announced in advance by APGA always corresponded correctly with the official figures released by INEC.

“It is inconceivable that our candidate, who polled over 200,000 votes in the APC primary election would be allocated a slightly above 43,000 votes by INEC.

“It is surprising that APGA that lost almost 80% of its stalwarts through defection to the APC before the election came out ‘victorious’. A sitting APGA deputy governor, seven members of the House of Representatives, 10 members of the Anambra State House of Assembly, the APGA party’s member of Board of Trustees, many serving SA’s, SSA’s, in addition to a serving PDP Senator all defected to the APC very timely before the election, yet APGA emerged ‘victorious’. This is quite ridiculous!

“From all indications, the only people remaining in APGA at the time of the election were Governor Obiano and his household and a few staff of the Government House as well as Prof. Soludo and his household but majority of the electorate in Anambra State had moved to the APC.

“There was definitely no way the carcass of APGA could have defeated the APC without the active collusion and manipulation by INEC and the Obiano Administration.

“While we appeal to our supporters to remain peaceful and calm, we will not relent in pursuing our stolen electoral mandate to the limit of the law through all the constitutional means available as the facts on ground did not in any way reflect the outcome of the elections as announced by the obviously compromised INEC,” he said.

Daily Trust