Andy Uba would have won the election if it was conducted properly, the lawyer says.

Benchuks Nwosu, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State, has stated their grouse against Charles Soludo’s victory in the just concluded governorship election in the state.

Mr Soludo, a professor of economics and the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), defeated the APC candidate, Andy Uba, and 16 others by a wide margin in the November 6 election.

While others have congratulated Mr Soludo, Mr Uba, a former senator, has rejected the election results.

“According Andy Uba, a lot was wrong (with the election), not specifically against the person of Soludo or APGA as a political party, but with the institution that conducted the election,” Mr Nwosu, a former speaker of the Anambra State Assembly, said Wednesday on Channels TV’s Politics Today.

“I want to get that clear to everybody. Our grouse and ground is not against individuals, but the institution that conducted the election – and they conducted it very very badly.

“And when they did that, the results that came out is being protested against by Senator Andy Uba and APC,” he said.

Mr Nwosu is one of the lawyers who would handle the election petition on behalf of the APC.

He said APC would certainly go to court to challenge the outcome of the Anambra election. “We have a plethora of evidence we believe can sustain the petition,” he said.

The programme anchor, Seun Okinbaloye, asked Mr Nwosu, “Your party did not win a single local government area, on what ground do you want to challenge the result?”

“Look, our grouse is not about winning one or several local government (areas), we are saying that we have discovered that there are irregularities in the conduct of the election, that INEC was grossly understaffed and that in so many polling units the election did not hold,” he responded.

“We have 5,720 polling units, (and) in most of them, INEC did not come to conduct elections at all.”

He described the election as one of the worst ever conducted in the history of Anambra State, and said they would ask the court to nullify it.

“Senator Andy Uba believes that if the election is properly conducted, given the massive followership he was able to generate within a period of three months, would do a lot better and win the election,” he added.

APGA reacts
The National Chairman of APGA, Victor Oye, who was also a guest on the programme, countered Mr Nwosu, saying the election was free, fair and transparent.

“The whole world has applauded the election, everyone is very happy that the election went the way it went. As far as we are concerned, it is ranked as one of the most peaceful elections in this country and in Anambra State,” he said.

READ ALSO: Anambra: APC’s Andy Uba rejects Anambra governorship election results
Mr Oye said APGA would still win the election if it is conducted a million times.

He urged APC to accept defeat and move on. “Even if they go to court, they will not win,” he said.

Meanwhile, a former governorship aspirant in the election, Rommy Okoli, has advised Mr Uba not to challenge the election outcome in court.

Mr Okoli, who was an aspirant on the platform of APGA, said challenging the election in court would be a distraction to the governor-elect and would also cause Mr Uba to be more unpopular with the people.

“I am certain that Uba will not achieve anything by embarking on litigation against Soludo, who won the election. Doing that will instead make people hate him more,” he said.