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Anambra poll: Ogbeh begged me to keep quiet –– Uba

•He’s a drowning man, says Ngige

•It’s absolute nonsense –– Ogbeh

SIMON IBE, Snr Political Editor, TONY AILEMEN, Yola and NKIRU OKEKE, Enugu (with other reports)


SELF-ACCLAIMED political godfather of Anambra State Chief Chris Uba yesterday raised the stakes in the state’s political imbroglio when he marshalled how he allegedly masterminded the wholesale rigging of the governorship election in the state last year.

Chief Uba even claimed that, till date he still retained custody of the electoral "Certificate of Return" issued to Gov. Chris Ngige by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), even as it emerged that the Senate may compel INEC to annul the entire election.

Uba threw the "bombshell" in a statement he issued from his Enugu, Enugu State base in which he apoligised profusely to Anambra people for helping to wrought on them the fraud he claimed he masterminded.

But, the Anambra State Government and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh reacted sharply to the claims, saying that Chief Uba was merely raising the stakes to keep himself in the limelight.

Government House, Awka, responding to the latest twist in the Anambra tale insisted last night that the matter of who won the election, now the subject of a case before the elections tribunal should be left to the tribunal to determine.

Gov. Ngige’s spokesman Mr. Fred Chukwuelobe said on the telephone that, "Chris Uba is an aggrieved party in this matter and he was not to be taken seriously (in his latest statement)

"We should allow the tribunal to do its work as only the tribunal is in a position to determine who won or lost the election of April 19, 2003.

President Olusegun Obasanjo had, two weeks ago in reply to a letter addressed to him by Chief Ogbeh on the matter stated that, in a confrontation in his presidential villa home Uba had got Ngige to admit that he (governor) did not win the election.

Yesterday, however, the state government claimed that "Chris Uba denied saying that PDP lost the election at the World Igbo Congress in the United States", and asked: "Why is he suddenly claiming it happened?"

Also, Chief Ogbeh dismissed Chief Uba’s claims as absolute nonsense and challenged him to take his case to the election tribunal.

But, Chief Uba said in his seven-paragraph statement that he was making the confession in the hope that the people would forgive him for the role he said he played in the dirty game.

"I believe that the moment of truth and remorse has come", he wrote while pleading "for forgiveness and understanding from the people of Anambra in particular and Nigerians in general"

He signed the statement himself, and reconfirmed to Daily Champion in a telephone encounter that he had more grim tales to tell of the matter and would say so soon.

"As the truth of 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: let me express my heart-felt regret for my error and the activities involved with others in Anambra to put Ngige in power as the governor of the state".

The statement read in parts: "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.

"In the presence of President Obasanjo, I asked Dr. Ngige whether he actually won the election, he confirmed he did not win the election; the president drove us out as from that point, he did not want to listen to our story.

"At another occasion soon after that, I had the opportunity, when Chief Ogbeh invited Dr. Ngige and myself to his house to tell the same story, again Dr. Chris Ngige confirmed before Ogbeh that he did not win the election, when I asked him the same question.

"Because he was more attentive than the president, I told him that even the certificate of return of the governorship election was in my custody and at the appropriate time: I will make the copies available to the press.

"Chief Ogbeh advised that we should all keep quiet on the issue of governorship election in Anambra, I obeyed".

In its reaction last night, Government House, Awka insisted that Chief Ubah was raising the stakes afresh merely in a grand effort to drag the names of Gov. Ngige and Chief Ogbeh in the mud.

Chief Ogbeh on his part, described Chief Uba’s claims as "absolute nonsense", challenging the businessman to go to the electoral tribunal if he had any evidence that would help the tribunal reach a just conclusion on the case.

Speaking through his special assistant (media), Mr. Abu Thompson, Chief Ogbeh denied the claims of Uba as unfounded and a figment of the imagination of the controversial political godfather.

The party chairman said "as a good and patriotic citizen, if he (Uba) has any evidence of electoral malpractices in the elections in the state, he should go to the tribunal and allow the tribunal to come to a just decision on the case rather than addressing the press and making claims that are false."

Meanwhile, the Senate may compel INEC to annul the 2003 Anambra gubernatorial election and prosecute perpetrators of electoral fraud in the state.

Sen. Jubril Aminu gave this indication in Yola on Monday, while reacting to revelations by President Obasanjo on the matter.

Aminu said if it was true Gov. Ngige admitted electoral failure and Chief Ubah confessed to have aided the fraud, then there were enough indications that the 2003 gubernatorial election in Anambra was rigged in favour of the PDP.

The only panacea for peace in Anambra now is to deal with these trouble makers, by annulling the 2003 gubernatorial election and hand over Dr. Chris Uba to the police for prosecution.

In the letter to Chief Ogbeh, President Obasanjo had stated inter-alia: "Again I did and that was when I got the real shock of my life when Chris Uba looked Ngige straight in the face and said "you know you did not win the election" and Ngige answered "Yes I know I did not win". Chris Uba went further to say to Ngige "You don’t know in detail how it was done" "I was horrified and told both of them to leave my residence."

Sen. Aminu who faulted President Obasanjo’s reaction to the revelation said, the President would have saved the state and the entire nation the ensuing embarrassment by calling on INEC to annul the election.

"I think people would have expected the President to call the INEC chairman and say that this man (Ngige) in front of me said he did not win the election so do something about him and also call the Inspector General of Police and hand over Chief Uba to him for perpetrating electoral fraud," he said.

Aminu, PDP senator representing Adamawa Central, however allayed fears that the crisis may cripple democracy, noting that "those involved are matured enough especially as they are both concerned with enthroning lasting democratic values not destroying it."

"The leaking of the letter may appear to be a deliberate act of mischief especially if it came from the party apparatus; this makes it even more serious because it means that it was a deliberate attempt to bring out the differences between the party chairman and Mr. President

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