From Obinna Odogwu and Mokwugwo Solomon

Former Anambra South Senator, Andy Uba, has been declared winner of the governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State.

Ubah emerged 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 other 12 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 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 supplied their representatives to the Committee as at 9a.m 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.

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

Meanwhile, confusion is trailing the outcome as some of the party members and stakeholders have rejected the process leading to the congress.

Reacting to the declaration of Uba, State Publicity Secretary of the party, Okelo Madukaife, rejected the result, describing it as fake.

“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 leader of our great party in Anambra State and Minister of Labour & Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, has proposed Tuesday, June 29, 2021 for the repeat primaries 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 potential of being fatal”, the statement read.