November 14, (THEWILL) – It’s been five days since the Independent National Electoral Commission announced Prof Chukwuma Soludo as the winner of the 2021 Anambra State governorship election. With some of the candidates lining up to congratulate him and some others yet to come to terms with their losses, THEWILL examines some of the intrigues that played out before, during and after the election.
Andy Uba:
The former senator’s problems are three-fold. First, he failed to get the blessing of his former boss, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, through his own greed. As earlier exclusively reported by THEWILL, Uba allegedly got a huge sum running into billions of naira from a cabal in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for onward transfer to the former President to get him to stop his constant attack on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and his inability to fulfill his campaign promises.
Uba did not tell the former president about the money and he allegedly refused to return it as instructed when Obasanjo found out and confronted him about it. This action destroyed their friendship of many years. The former president had not only felt betrayed and shocked by this aspect of him, but he also allegedly ensured that the former senator no longer had access to him.
Secondly, several months before the governorship election, Uba succeeded in building a huge war chest, part of which came from the alleged sum of money Obasanjo instructed him to return to the cabal.
Uba had hoped to use the funds to buy his way to victory at the polls. Unfortunately his plan backfired. He had allegedly offered huge sums of money to different categories of members of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to defect to APC and work to ensure he emerged winner. He allegedly offered several millions of naira to some high-ranking members of APGA and doled out lesser amounts, though valued in millions of naira, to other categories of the party’s membership.
Seeing how Uba was giving out money with reckless abandon, the people he approached to defect from their party to APC, allegedly sought permission from the Governor Willie Obiano who granted them their wish to partake of Uba’s ‘national cake,’ but not to work in his favour. So last Sunday, when it became obvious that Soludo was coasting home to victory, Uba ordered these party officials to return the money he gave them since they obviously didn’t fulfill their own side of the deal. Miffed that they all rebuffed him, he allegedly threatened to invoke the ‘juju’ he claimed he placed on the money all the way from an evil enclave in Calabar, Cross River. At the time of this publication, not one single person had made any remittance to him.
However, the real issue here is why Uba allegedly resorted to offering money to people to defect from APGA to APC to work in his favour, when the over 200,000 delegates that Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, who was the head of the APC election panel, claimed chose Uba as the party’s candidate in the governorship election, could have helped him to easily win the election. Unfortunately, despite the imaginary 200,000 delegates, Uba ended up in third place with a measly 40,000 votes.
Also, Uba, like his second wife, Faith Vedelago, was disappointed that he had lost the opportunity to flaunt his designer-loving wife, who displaced his long suffering first wife of many years, Gloria Obiageli, as the First Lady and by extension, one of the most beautiful to ever occupy Government House. But his disappointment is nothing compared to that of his wife, who is an Abuja based preacher and founder of Faith Miracle International Centre, Abuja.
During Uba’s first and very brief tenure as governor, Faith, who was then a single mother, was Uba’s mistress and so could not join her lover to enjoy the spoils of the office as First Lady. But a lot has happened in their relationship between 2011 and 2021. Two babies after and now officially his wife, Faith felt it was her time now to fully assume her position as First Lady, having been given the assurance that her husband would win the election. She allegedly went on a shopping spree and made elaborate preparations to dominate the Government House with panache and style. But as they say in religious circles, man proposes, God disposes.
Chukwumah Soludo:
At a time that most people were rooting for either the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria or the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Valentine Ozigbo, the Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Rev Father Ejike Mbaka, had declared that Andy Uba rather than Soludo would emerge governor-elect in Anambra State. This he claimed to have seen in a vision.
Contrary to Mbaka’s prediction, Uba was not only trounced at the polls, but also came a distant third. Expectedly, Mbaka’s spiritual endorsement of Uba surprised many, having fallen out of favour with the ruling party and by extension, President Muhammadu Buhari. One now begins to wonder how a cleric, who should be spiritually in tune at all times, can in one breath condemn the All Progressives Congress (APC) , and all it represents and, in another breath, endorse the party and its candidate. Since the election was concluded on Wednesday, Mbaka has suddenly gone into a trance, denying people of the opportunity to ask him about this vision, which revealed a different winner from the actual winner. What’s that saying about the rejected stone becoming the chief cornerstone?
Senator Ifeanyi Ubah:
The recent governorship election was Ubah’s second attempt to occupy the seat of power in Anambra State. Between the time he made his first attempt to occupy the seat and now, Ubah seems to have matured politically. Despite coming 4th at the polls, Ubah who was the candidate of Young Progressive Party, still found it necessary to appreciate the people of Otolo, Nnewi, who he represents in the National Assembly, for giving him victory against his opponents during the election.
Shortly after conceding defeat and congratulating Soludo, he took truckloads of food items to the people of Nnewi in appreciation of their massive support for him. The people of Nnewi were pleasantly surprised by his gesture, despite his loss, and they promised to always stand by him should he continue to seek elective political positions. No doubt, this is a far cry from how Ubah would have reacted to the loss a few years ago.
In 2014 when Ubah, who is heavily indebted to the tune of N135bn, first contested in a governorship election in Anambra State under the Labour Party, he gave out more than 50 cars to some people, whom he felt could help swing things in his favour. Unfortunately, he lost the election. He then invited all those he gave the cars to his home for a bogus appraisal of his performance at the polls. When they all assembled, he quietly retrieved the keys to the vehicles from them and bade them farewell.
Valentine Ozigbo:
He came on the scene like a swashbuckler and despite being a first timer at the polls, surprised many with his performance, trailing behind Soludo in second place. Many have argued that the performance of Ozigbo, who is the immediate past president and chief executive officer of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, was largely due to the platform on which he contested, the Peoples Democratic Party. But the capacity of his own war chest, cannot be down played. He was ably supported by a popular bank chairman who stood behind him financially like the rock of Gibraltar. But having lost out in the race and with a lot of money gone down the drain, it is uncertain that this rock of Gibraltar will be more than willing to lend his support to Ozigbo again when and if he decides to embark on more political adventures. But then, never say never. Anything can happen at anytime.
Ivory Ukonu is a versatile journalist with many years of experience, with entertainment and society reporting as her area of core competence.
