AN aspirant vying for Anambra South senatorial constituency, Nnamdi Ezike, has petitioned the national leadership of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, accusing Dr Andy Uba and Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu of being behind the crisis on the day of the primaries.

According to him, Uba and Ukachukwu employed the services of thugs to rig the election in separate places.

In a statement signed by Ezike, a member of  Anambra State House of Assembly and one of the senatorial aspirants from the constituency, which was made available to Vanguard, alleged that the rigging was perfected by the duo who had since declared themselves winners of the primaries.

Ezike stated in the petition that “primaries was rescheduled to hold on Saturday 7th January, 2011, for Anambra South senatorial seat in Ekwulobia Town. On that day, there was confusion as there were two venues for the primaries instead of one. The supporters of Dr. Andy Uba were at one venue, while the supporters of Nicholas Ukachukwu were at the other. As a result of this confusion in venues, genuine PDP members were confused and denied participation in the primaries by thugs who supported the two factions and were denied entry into the venue.”

He added that Andy Uba was declared winner by one faction and Nicholas Ukachukwu by another, adding that the NASS Electoral Panel from Abuja was not present at any of the venues, with the supporters of Nicholas Ukachukwu later hijacking the electoral materials.

“As a consequence, the final result of the election could not be announced by the NASS Electoral Panel, neither at the venue at Ekwulobia nor even at Awka, the state capital. The NASS Electoral Panel ran away and later surfaced in Abuja and made a fictitious return of Nicholas Ukachukwu as winner on 10th “ January,  three clear days after the primary was supposed to have taken place,” Ezike explained.

The lawyer posited that in view of the facts and the purported declaration of victory by two of the three aspirants, the primaries were inconclusive. and there could not have been a winner, saying that he should be chosen as the consensus candidate to represent the constituency as a senator.