Saharareporters has just learned of the political maneuvers by Emmanuel Nnamdi (Andy) Uba to position himself to once again snatch Government House, Awka. Uba, who was enthroned as “governor” after a notoriously fraudulent election in April 2007, was quickly removed from office by an order of the Supreme Court. His numerous efforts to regain his illegally acquired post by bribing judges failed to bear fruit as both the Court of Appeal as well as the Supreme Court denied his petitions. Uba has now entered the field as the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, one of the parties he sponsored during the registration of political parties. Apart from using the Labour Party, Uba’s latest political plot involves the purchase of several parties’ governorship tickets, according to highly knowledgeable sources in his camp as well as within the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). In assuming the ticket of the Labou
r Party, Uba met INEC’s deadline for political parties to substitute the names of their candidates for the February 6, 2010 gubernatorial election in Anambra. That deadline is tomorrow, Tuesday, December 8 – a day Uba will be unveiled as the candidate of the Labour Party. Our sources disclosed that Andy Uba has not only acquired the ticket of the Labour Party, but that he has doled out huge cash payments to mop up the tickets of several other parties, including that of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). A source within Uba’s inner circle said that the former senior aide on domestic matters to President Olusegun Obasanjo had been quietly buying up numerous marginal political parties as part of a political strategy he fine-tuned with help from INEC chairman Maurice Iwu.Shortly after Uba emerges tomorrow, he will move fast in the coming weeks to stage political campaigns in which crowds will be rented. During these rallies, Uba will give the platform to the candidates of the parties he has purchased to announce their withdrawal from the governorship race and to pledge support for Uba’s ticket. “Professor Iwu has promised Andy that INEC will announce him as the next governor if Chief Uba can create the impression that he’s a popular candidate,” disclosed an INEC source familiar with the details.
