Senator Andy Uba has joined the race for the All Progressives Congress ticket for the Anambra governorship election.
Uba, who led about 12 senators to the National Secretariat of the APC in Abuja on Wednesday, picked his expression of interest and nomination forms from the party’s National Organising Secretary, Osita Izunaso.
Speaking to newsmen soon after collecting the forms and paying a courtesy call on the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Uba expressed confidence that his record of performance in public service would place him above other contenders.
He said, “Of all of us that are running, who has the best chance? Who has the experience? One, I have been a governor in Anambra State before, I have been senator two times, I have my structure in the state, I have the people that are working for me, I don’t see why I cannot beat them.
“Those contesting against me have nothing, they are not prepared. We have a sitting governor; you need somebody with capacity to remove him, I know that I have the capacity to remove him. Another aspirant, Mr. Barth Nwibe, who was also at the secretariat to pick his nomination forms, said he was joining the race because of what he had to offer the people of Anambra State. He said he contributed in nurturing the APC in the state and across the South-East and that he believed that the race for the party’s ticket “is payback time.”
Meanwhile, a coalition of Niger Delta militants has expressed their support for the call by the Indigenous People of Biafra to boycott the November 18, 2017 governorship election in the state.
The agitators in a statement via electronic mail said their support for the IPOB was based on the silence of the Federal Government on the killing of IPOB members on May 30, 2016 in some parts of South-East and South-South states.
The militant groups are Concerned Militant Leaders, Niger Delta People Democratic Front, and Rainbow Marabas Squad.
They demanded justice for the victims of the Biafra Day celebration.
Leaders of the groups, ‘General’ Ben; ‘General’ Playboy; and ‘General’ Aneaja, condemned the continued silence of government on the matter, adding that the IPOB members killed were unarmed and harmless.
‘General’ Ben, who is the convener of the coalition, said, “The Federal Government should address the injustice meted out to innocent and harmless IPOB members while celebrating Biafra Day.
“The election in Anambra State should not hold and will not hold. That injustice must first be addressed before any election will take place by Federal Government.”
PUNCH
