.I ‘ve grounds to challenge his declaration as gov-elect –Uba
.PDP stalwart urges INEC to decentralize production of PVCs
By Phil Okose Onitsha
The. 45 communities that make up Old Aguata Union, OAU, under the aegies of OAU traders in Anambra State, Sunday at a summit in Nkpor, Idemili North local Government Area, Anambra State, vowed to frustrate Sen. Andy Uba’s suit at the Election Petition Tribunal against Prof. Chukwuma Soludo that emerged the winner in the just concluded Anambra State Governorship election.
Making the vow, the controller General of the union, comrade Peter Okala, stated that, ” this Nkpor summit was designed by the cacaus of this union and kindreds of Senator Andy Uba, to take stock of the just concluded gubernatorial election in the state in which our own son and brother emerged the winner and we thank God for his victory.”
“We thank Nigerians, INEC, security operatives and IPOB who on ensuring that a man of the people emerged, suspended its sit-at-home order it earlier made adding that, “it gave room for the electorate to freely vote for the candidates of their choice which produced Prof. Charles Soludo as the winner”
” We therefore warn that failure to heed to our advice that Soludo should be allowed to perform by Senator Andy Uba who we learnt has gone or is about to go to the Election Petition Tribunal to challenge his victory, we will have no other option left than to use all legal means within our disposal to stop or frustrate him,”
“Anambra people are wiser now and any attempt to truncate the victory will be resisted , we therefore advise Uba to sheat his sword and allow the wish and aspiration of the people to take possession in the interest of peace and tranquility,,”
Okala who was flanked by his secretary, Peter Okeke and Patron, Chief Cyprian Umeh, reiterated the resolve of the union to mobilise all traders in the state to storm the court in protest if he fails to withdraw his suit against Soludo.
” We thank those candidates who not minding that they were defeated, rushed and commended Soludo for his land slide victory” stating that, ” they showed spirit of sportsmanship”.
Also on Sunday, the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress APC, in the just concluded Anambra State election, Senator Andy Uba, has recalled how he was removed as governor by the Supreme Court of Nigeria after 17 days in office, insisting that the current development about the 2021 election won’t hurt him.
Addressing APC members in Awka, Uba however said he had reviewed the outcome of the November 6, poll and resolved that there were enough grounds to challenge the declaration of Professor Chukwuma Soludo, the candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, as the winner of the election.
After an internal debriefing by the party and the campaign organization, Uba and the top echelon of APC led by the state chairman, Chief Basil Ejidike said they discovered that besides having enough grounds to challenge the declaration of Professor 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 expressed profound gratitude to members of the party, the campaign team and Anambra people, pointing out that though he never took politics or quest for political office as ‘a do or die’ venture, he would nonetheless always follow the dictates of the law in seeking redress
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.
“We will, however, be heading to court with the discoveries we have, which show 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 Him alone determines who he will entrust it to.
“Preliminary investigations showed that there were sufficient grounds for us and the party to challenge the declaration of the APGA candidate, Soludo as winner of the election by INEC and the ideal thing to do in the face of such discovery, is to approach the tribunal for redress”
The state chairman of APC, Chief Basis Ejidike also explained that the decision to seek judicial redress was, perhaps, the surest way to ensure that those who engineered the electoral heist of November 6, 2021 did not enjoy the fruits of their perfidy.
“Ndi Anambra and the world at large would bear testimony to the fact that, on the eve of the election, the outgoing Governor Willie Obiano administration had, through its Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr. C. Don Adinuba, told everyone that the APC had written results of 10 local government areas
“Unknown to us, however, that false alarm was aimed at deflecting attention from the manipulation of the BVAS machine by APGA and a top official of INEC..
“We are, therefore, heading to court. APGA and INEC are aware that they compromised during the election and we have evidences to challenge INEC’s declaration in the court of law,” Ejidike said.
Meanwhile, PDP stalwart urges INEC to decentralise PVCs’ production to hasten issuance
Dr Adetokunbo Pearse, a PDP stalwart in Lagos State on Sunday charged INEC to decentralise the production of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to accelerate issuance.
Pearse, the Convener, Reset Lagos and chairmanship contender in the aborted Oct. 16 PDP State Congress, gave the charge when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said it was disheartening that five months after the commencement of the on-going nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) INEC had not issued a single PVC to registrants.
“INEC is yet to issue me the PVC I registered for since 2012 registration exercise.
“It has not produced my PVC and I did everything you can imagine as a governorship candidate in 2019. I could not get my PVC till today.
“I even called INEC few days ago, and I was told it was not ready. Meanwhile, it will not allow me to do a new registration. We must begin to shout now. I plan to do a real protest on this soon,’’ he said.
Pearse said that he would take INEC to court if the commission failed to issue his PVC soonest and those of others with unresolved PVC issues.
“If INEC does not give out PVCs to people that applied for it in the next three months, it should be held responsible for suppressing the votes.
“We will not go into election under such circumstances. We are shouting now so that before we get to the middle of 2022, every eligible applicant for PVC must have their PVCs.
“The cards should be produced right away; otherwise we will take INEC to court.
“It is almost a little too late for INEC to start production and distribution of PVCs in preparation for the 2023 general elections,’’ Pearse stressed.
He suggested that INEC should allow people with Temporary Voter Cards (TVC) to vote in 2023 if it failed to produce PVCs since there was no difference between information on the TVCs and those on the PVCs.
He also urged INEC to speed up its registration and decentralise the issuance of the cards to avoid crises.
Pearse cited an example about issuance of ATM cards by banks which used to take up to one week after the request was made, but now took only a few minutes to be issued.
“Technology has gone so far. I don’t know what INEC’s challenge is. Five months after commencing nationwide CVR, not a single person has been issued the PVC. This is rather too slow and unimpressive.
“I think it is a ploy to keep people disenfranchised and an attempt to suppress the people’s democratic rights.
“Why does the commission want to wait until few months to election before printing of PVCs? The delay will bring the rush and stress from which we are trying to run,’’ Pearse said.
He called on INEC to decentralise the production of the PVCs to zonal or state offices to ease and facilitate the process.
“INEC should take a clue from the banking sector to make the printing of the PVCs in the country to be fast like is witnessed in the banks today; we need to emulate good innovations,’’ he said.
“It is negligence of duty to expect that all PVCs will be produced in Abuja and taken to each state; it is a clog in the wheel of electoral progress that will never work.
“Since it is not working, we must consider the alternative. We need to decentralise the production looking at how big the country is,’’ he added.
