Crisis hits APC as party disassociates itself from Anambra primary election results

The crisis rocked the Anambra chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the outcome of the party governorship primary election.

The APC Anambra governorship primary election held on Saturday, June 26, 2021, across the 21 local government of the state.

Newsflash Nigeria reports that a former Senator who represented Anambra South Senatorial District, Andy Ubah, has been declared winner of the governorship primary election.

Ubah emerged the winner in the primary election contested by 13 other aspirants.

Declaring the results of the exercise on Sunday morning at the Golden Tulips Hotel, Agulu, Anambra State, the Chairman of the Anambra State Primary Election Committee and Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, said Senator Ubah polled 230, 201 votes out of the total votes of 348,490, to defeat his closest rival, Onunwoku Johnbosco who polled 28, 746 and 12 other contestants.

Abiodun said the election took place in 20 out of the 21 Local Government Areas of the state, noting that the election could not hold in Onitsha South due to the failure of the Returning Officers to conduct the election after collecting election materials from the committee’s secretariat.

The governor further disclosed that an Option A-4 method was adopted in the election, and blamed the delay in the conduct of the election as scheduled on the failure of the contestants to supply 30 of their representatives as directed by the committee.

According to him, only nine aspirants had supplied their representatives to the committee at 9:00 am on Saturday.

Abiodun explained that despite the minor hiccups, Returning Officers, backed by security escorts were posted to all the 326 wards in the state, declaring that “the process was free, fair, transparent and in line with the party’s guidelines, as promised by this committee”.

The election committee chairman, however, debunked insinuations from some of the contestants that the exercise was deliberately delayed, pointing out that his committee only needed to be thorough and transparent.

He added that the minor delay was not the fault of the committee or that of the party members, but that of logistics.

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Abiodun thanked party members and all stakeholders, especially the committee members, who according to him were carefully chosen for the task. He also called for all hands to be on deck to ensure victory for the party in the coming governorship election.

But the state’s party Publicity Secretary has disassociated itself from the outcome of the election.

The Publicity Secretary of APC in Anambra State, Okelo Madukaife, disclosed this in a statement.

The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to a set of figures circulating on the internet without signature or attribution and purported to be Anambra APC primaries results.

 “The figures do not owe to Anambra State APC Primaries which did not hold and for which we look forward to the Caretaker National Executive of our great party to choose a new date within INEC timetable.

“The leader of our great party in Anambra State and Minister of Labour & Employment, Sen (Dr.) Chris Nwabueze Ngige has proposed Tuesday, June 29, 2021, for the primary to hold, and we recommend that it should be considered.

“In the time being, the figures should be discarded and discountenanced as they are figments of fertile imagination, with the potential of being fatal.”

Meanwhile, 11 of the 14 governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra have said the June 26 governorship primary in the state did not hold.

Dr George Muoghalu, the spokesperson for the aspirants, made the position of the group known in a press conference on Saturday in Awka.

Muoghalu said that in all the 326 electoral Wards of the state, people came out, but were disappointed, saying that none of the APC team saddled with the responsibility to conduct the primary and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials was seen.

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Muoghalu, the Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and one of the aspirants, said anybody who claimed that there was primary is fraudulent and did not wish APC well in the November 6 election.

Paul Orajiaka and Edozie Madu, both aspirants, corroborated the position of Muoghalu and warned that the era when one man would come up with a fake figure to claim victory is over.

The aspirants, however, appealed to the party leadership to come up with a fresh date for the Anambra primary to ensure that the party beat the deadline in the Electoral Act.

Other aspirants at the event were Johnbosco Onunkwo, Ben Etiaba, Amobi Nwaokafor, Chidozie Nwankwo, Geoffo Onyjegbu, Azuka Okwuosa, among others.

Moreover, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, asked that the APC) primary election for the Anambra State governorship poll slated for Saturday, June 26, be postponed to Tuesday, June 29.

He said the shift was important to enable party members across the state to participate as well as give enough room to the committee members to resolve contentious issues raised by aspirants.

A statement by his Media Office in Alor, Idemili South, said the minister, who is also the leader of the party in the state, had made his position known to the Chairman of the Primary Committee for the Anambra State Governorship election and the Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun.

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Quoting Senator Ngige, the statement said: ‘Your Excellency, Prince Dapo Abiodun, the Chairman of the Anambra State Primary Committee, good day. As I write you now, 4:25 pm, Saturday, 26th June, I’m in my home town, Alor with 2 electoral wards and there is no sign of any governorship primary election. 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.

‘As a result, most party members have left for home, having waited since 8 am. I discussed with your member, Distinguished Senator Ken Nnamani and I’ll advise you to call the panel members to shift the exercise to Tuesday, June 29th to also enable you to tidy up some issues raised by aspirants.’

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