Uba, Nwoye, others free

By Vincent Ujumadu

FOLLOWING the nullification of the March 28, 2015 National Assembly election for Anambra Central senatorial district, the two major opponents in the poll, Chief Victor Umeh, former national chairman and candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA  and Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are back to the trenches. They are peparing for another showdown. The rerun election is likely to take place in March, next year.

Soon after the declaration of Ekwunife as the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Umeh went to the tribunal to challenge it. After months of legal fireworks at the election tribunal sitting in Awka by the two parties, the tribunal headed by Justice Naya Aganaba, declared that the election substantially met the requirements of the electoral act and that Ekwunife was duly elected.

Not satisfied with the decision, Umeh appealed against the judgment and the Appeal Court judges nullified the election on the ground that it did not meet the required standards.

Shortly after the outcome of the judgment filtered into Awka, many people converged in groups to discuss the matter, while others went jubilating in the various local councils that make up the senatorial zone.

While some said that Umeh  ought to have been declared winner by the Court of Appeal,  others said the decision of the court to order for a rerun of the election within 90 days was fair to both parties in view of the alleged irregularities  that  characterised the polls.

Mixed views

However, there were those who expressed happiness that the rerun election would be conducted on a clean slate as there would no longer be ‘order from above’ to decide who should go to the Senate to represent Anambra Central as was the case on March 28.

I will win rerun polls — Umeh

Uche Ekwunife acknowledging cheers from supporters

Expressing happiness at the decision of the Appeal Court, Umeh boasted that he would win the rerun election.

His words: “I am happy that the Court of Appeal did not sustain the electoral fraud that took place in Anambra State on March 29 during the collation of the results from the seven local government areas. By coming with a decision that election should be repeated is an improvement over the previous impression created that the election was good and that Uche Ekwunife, won.

“I cried out from the onset that the election was marred with recklessness and impunity. I also pointed out that the environment under which that election was conducted was skewed against other candidates in the election, other than that of the PDP.

“The PDP candidate submitted list of all the ad-hoc staff employed by the INEC for that exercise and during the election proper, the military were deployed to her full use and we were pushed out of the election. But we managed to hold on to that election and of course, garnered votes that actually won that election.

“But through the manipulation of the PDP and INEC-they first of all announced a scandalous figure, 101548 for the PDP and 77129 for me. Ngige the candidate of the APC got 20,000 votes. Of course, we were very distressed by the outcome of the exercise as announced by INEC and the only thing to do, like I have always done, was to go to the tribunal to seek redress.

Certified true copies

At the tribunal, we were able to show that the result announced by INEC was false because we recalculated the figures we saw on the certified true copies of the results given to us by INEC and saw that PDP got 93,860 on the face value, instead of 101548 and my votes on the face value was 85,898 instead of 77129. So, it immediately cast total doubt on the election.

And when we filed our petition, they accepted that the results announced by INEC were wrong. That instead, what we added up was the result but they accepted it, claiming they were still leading.

“If these figures were wrong, it must have obvious consequences on the election because election is not governed by rule of the thumb. You must be precise and accurate in figures you allot to candidates in an election.

You don’t just say this man got 200,000 and tomorrow, you say he got 150 and you expect a judge to accept that the election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act. It cannot be.

So, these were the things we brought to the tribunal, and of course, because they were there to do a hatchet job, they turned their eyes away from the matters that we brought to court. Hence, I proceeded to the Court of Appeal”

A/Court Justces served as father Christmas —Ekwunife

Ekwunife, on the other hand, said the Appeal Court judges served as Father Christmas for Umeh, alleging that they gave him what he did not ask for. While calling on her supporters to remain calm following the decision of the Appeal Court, she expressed optimism that she will win again in the senatorial zone anytime any day.

She said: “The Appeal Court judgment is a judgment of man. The court acted as a father Christmas by awarding to Chief Victor Umeh what he did not ask. But  I take it in good faith believing that my victory at the polls was an act of God. I assure my supporters that we will emerge victorious even as I thank Ndi Anambra central for their supports so far”.

She said that her popularity in the zone was not a fluke, having performed creditably as the member that represented Anaocha/Njikoka/Dunukofia in the House of Representatives, adding that she was sure to win again against any candidate from any other party.

Back to the trenches: Already, the two candidates have resumed their campaigns in earnest. For instance, all the campaign coordinators of the candidates met at their campaign headquarters, weekend, to strategize on how to go about the election which most people agree would be tough.

On the face value, Umeh appears to have a better chance this time around because the security operatives that were very active during the last election may not be disposed to work for either of the candidates in view of the present political situation in the country. In addition to his popularity in the seven local councils of the zone, Umeh will also enjoy the assistance of Governor Willie Obiano, who is bent on having at least one senator to also assist him during his second bid in 2017.

Soon after the nullification of the election, there were rumours that Dr. Chris Ngige, the minister of Employment who was also a candidate of APC during the election, might join the race, but there were indications that he might no join after all.

As a result, the camps of both Umeh and Ekwunife were said to be wooing the camp of Ngige for the purpose of inheriting his structure during the rerun. How this would play out would be seen as the date of the rerun draws near.

Growth of democracy

A member of APGA in Anambra Central, Mr. Collins Obiokafor, said the people of the zone were optimistic that Umeh would emerge victorious, going by his popularity and contributions towards the growth of democracy in Anambra State in particular and Igboland in general. He said that serious mobilization would begin in earnest in all the seven local councils to ensure that Umeh wins convincingly during the rerun.

Nwoye’s victory elicit cheers: Another decision of the Court of Appeal that has elicited comments was the upholding the election of Comrade Tony Nwoye as duly elected for Anambra East and West Federal Constituency. Incidentally, Anambra East and West is Governor Willie Obiano’s constituency and what it means is that the governor has lost his federal constituency and senatorial zone to the PDP.

For Anambra South senatorial zone, the Court of Appeal also upheld the election of Senator Andy Uba of the PDP and dismissed the appeal by Chief Ernest Ndukwe of APGA. After the Appeal Court decisions, PDP still has two senatorial seats and nine House of Representatives seats, while APGA has two House of Representatives seats.