Maduako Igbokwe l Monday, November 01, 2021
ONITSHA, Anambra, Nigeria – Candidate for All Progressive Congress APC for the Anambra state governorship election Senator Andy Uba has stated that every efforts by All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA to tarnish him ends up becoming a plus to him.
In a statement issued by Director, Media and Publicity of Senator Andy Uba Governorship Campaign Organisation, SAUGCO, Hon. Victor Afam Ogene said all effort by APGA administration to slight the victory march of APC in the state will rather boost Andy Uba’s chances .
“It’s a shame that the latest smear campaign is propelled by the projection by leading independent research and political risk consultancy firm, Hallmark International Consulting Company(HICC) that Senator Uba is tipped to win the November 6, 2021 election,” Uba said.
According to him, HICC had said that “Senator Andy Uba, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC) may win in a hotly contested election with a margin of error of between 3-4 per cent probability ratings in Anambra State governorship election”.
A statement issued on Saturday, October 30, 2021 in Abuja by the Foundation’s Vice President for Africa and Middle East, Hayes Rodney, said the interest of the Foundation in the Anambra governorship election was nonpartisan.
According to HICC, the research and opinion poll was commissioned by a US-based ‘Power to the People Foundation’ – an NGO with an interest in the sustainability of democracy in Africa and around the world.
Although HICC stated that it only polled six major candidates – Dr. Godwin Maduka of Accord, Prof. Charles Soludo of APGA, Valentine Ozigbo of PDP, Dr. Obiora Okonkwo of Zenith Labour Party, and Senator Andy Uba of APC – the poll.
It said, “further narrowed the governorship race to a contest between Professor Soludo of APGA and Senator Andy Uba of APC.”
According to Uba , on the development, the APGA appears to have taken a recourse to whipping up sentiments against Senator Uba. He said APGA is using a poorly scripted propaganda material, they claimed that a certain nondescript character, allegedly, ‘confessed’ that Distinguished Senator Andy Uba contracted him to cause mayhem in the state was mindless and unfounded .
He advised public to ignore the concocted tale which could only have emanated from the jaundiced imagination of crude propagandists.
According to Uba, despite having devoted the greater part of his adult life to the service of Anambra and Nigeria, he is a widely acclaimed perfect gentleman who not only detests violence, but has also never being associated with anything of the sort.
Uba said: “If the said Elijah Okoh, said to be a revenue agent, is not a fictitious character created solely for the aim of reputational damage, then he must be an acolyte of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA and its leader, Governor Willie Obiano, who employs all revenue agents in Anambra state. The said Elijah Okoh is a revenue agent according to the imaginative tale, which puts him directly under the watch of Willie Obiano who supervises Revenue Agents in Anambra state.
“I challenge Governor Obiano and the many propagandists in his employ, to produce the said Elijah Okoh, or forever quit playing silly games and face up to the elections holding in few days time.
“For anyone living in Anambra state, it is quite easy linking the amateurish authors of the ignoble script to Willie Obiano and the APGA candidate, Professor Charles Soludo to this perfidy, having borrowed their fictional character from the notorious Ikanda, a murderer who worked as a revenue agent in Onitsha and was used by APGA and Obiano to wreak havoc in Onitsha during the 2013 elections.
“He was later arrested by security operatives for other crimes, but as the 2017 election approached, an entrenched Governor Obiano facilitated his release and deployment to election duties. What is more! A cursory look at the concocted tale shows that the story has no source and can’t be referenced to anyone. The Parrot News attached at the end of the said article does not also exist, either in print or the internet.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Senator Uba and his All Progressives Congress, APC have been insistent on having the Anambra governorship election hold this Saturday, November 6, 2021. On the contrary, however, Governor Obiano and APGA have been busy using all kinds of excuses and shenanigans to force a shift.
“In deed Anambra and Nigerians at large are aware of those who appear not to be ready for the gubernatorial duel, and are therefore conjuring all manner of excuses, including playing games with security issues, so as to force a stalemate.
“With the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, other political parties, including the APC and security agencies ready for the polls, we advise Governor Obiano, Professor Soludo and APGA to get up and get ready for November 6, 2021 – and quit playing silly games”, the statement said.
