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Ngige did not win election, Uba insists
By Chukwudi Achife
Bureau
Chief (Enugu)
and Rafiu Ajakaye
Special
Correspondent (Lagos)
Gripping stuff, always
- the Anambra tale. Sad as it is, it remains a compelling read, even if
for lawyers, journalists, academics, historians and the lot who have the tough
task to document and analyse events;
pleasant or bizarre.
The genre has already
brewed its own brand of potent intrigue, complete chaos and lots of physical
destruction, yet not even the main drivers know when it would end, or how.
Take the new yarn
unveiled on Tuesday, a revelation bound to inflict, this time, some
psychological pain on the people. Chris Uba confirmed that it was indeed he and
his bedfellows who rigged last year’s election in favour of Governor Chris
Ngige.
The number one citizen
had said so last week, quoting Uba and Ngige, just that the confirmation now
comes from the horse’s mouth, the man behind the magic.
Uba insisted that
Ngige did not win, he and his men simply installed him by crook.
He confirmed what
President Olusegun Obasanjo disclosed in his letter last week that the governor
admitted before himself and the President that he did not win the election.
Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) Chairman Audu Ogbeh is also privy to the information, he added.
Uba shed the crocodile
tears in a statement he issued in Enugu where he tendered a “public
apology” for his “error and the activities in installing Chris
Ngige as Governor”. He said the moment of truth and remorse has come.
So, who won the election
and is the rightful governor of Anambra State? Ngige declined comment on
Tuesday, pleading that it would be subjudice to do so as the matter is in
court.
Nonetheless, the All
Peoples Grand Alliance (APGA) had cried foul over the result last year.
Uba said he is now
showing remorse over the crime and is asking for the understanding and
forgiveness of the people of state and “those Nigerian leaders and
citizens who have been unduly affected and insulted by the Anambra
issue”.
As if to confirm
claims by APGA Governorship candidate Peter Obi that the election was rigged in
favour of Ngige, Uba said “we did everything possible to put Ngige in
power”, that his activities during the election were based on his belief
that an election is like a battle and “since all is fair in war, I
believe that the end justifies the means in an election”.
Besides the parley
with Obasanjo, he said he and Ngige had also met with Ogbeh where the Governor
had again, following a question he (Uba) put to him, admitted that he did not
win the election.
According to Uba,
unlike the President who walked them out of his house when Ngige made the
confession, Ogbeh was more attentive and had advised them to “keep quiet
on the issue of the governorship election in Anambra”, an instruction “which
I obeyed”.
Uba said he had told
Ogbeh that the certificate of return of the election was still in his custody
and that he would make copies to the press at the appropriate time, stressing:
“As time goes on, the truth will be more and more exposed and I can only
hope that justice will prevail”.
Part of the statement
reads: “As the truth of the Anambra issue is being gradually revealed and
denials and lies are being traded, I believe that as one of the main activists
in the whole issue, the moment of truth and remorse has come.
“First of all,
let me express my heartfelt regret for my error and the activities I got
involved in with others in Anambra to put Ngige in power as the Governor of the
State.
“In showing
remorse, I sincerely ask for the understanding and forgiveness of all our
people in Anambra State and those Nigerian leaders and citizens who have been
unduly affected and insulted by the Anambra issue.
“My mistake, for
which I ask for understanding, stemmed from my belief that election is like a battle
and since all is fair in war, I believe that the end justifies the means in an
election. We did everything possible to put Ngige in power. In the presence of
the President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, I asked Dr Chris Ngige
whether he actually won the election; he confirmed he did not win the election.
The President drove us out from that point; he did not want to listen to our
story again....”
Ngige’s Special
Assistant (Media and Publicity) Fred Chukwuelobe said the governor cannot
comment on the matter as it would be subjudice to do so.
He said in a statement
last night:“Governor Ngige has never admitted before anybody to have lost
the elections.The claim by Chief Chris Uba that the Governor did so before
President Obasanjo and Chief Audu Ogbeh is untrue.
“This is not the
first time Chief Uba is making this wild allegation. He did so in the U.S. last
September and later recanted it. The matter of the elections is before the
Election Tribunal and it is sub judice to continue to comment on it. The
Tribunal and the Courts are there to adjudicate on the issues pertaining to the
elections”.
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