*Urges security agencies to expose persons involved
From Max Udenwa, Awka
Forty-eight hours after an allegation to compromise the outcome of the November 6, gubernatorial election in Anambra state, those fingered in the deal are still walking the streets, free.
Expressing disappointment at the development, the Sen. Andy Uba Governorship Campaign Organisation (SAUGCO) in a statement issued by its Director, Media and Publicity, Hon. Victor Afam Ogene, in Awka, called on the nation’s security agencies to swiftly unravel those behind the sordid attempt to subvert the will of “ndi Anambra”.
A national newspaper, not The AUTHORITY, had last Saturday, reported that: “A Southeast governor and a top official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are in trouble with security agencies over a princely sum of $4 million bribe doled out by the governor as bribe to compromise the November 6, gubernatorial election in Anambra state.”
Since the scandal blew open, nobody in government in the state has uttered a single word in response, despite clear and unassailable indications that, inferences can be drawn to unmask the governor at the centre of the bribery saga.
“Instead of coming clean on the allegations, as it affects it, the Obiano administration rather chose to divert attention, by engaging third parties and social media miscreants under its payroll to engage in a wild goose chase over allegations.
“Besides the $4 million bribe, the newspaper report also mentioned ‘the wife of the politician, who is described as an influential and powerful first lady in the Southeast (who) is reported to have been meeting secretly with many electoral officers (EOs), who are key to the forthcoming election”.
Una’s campaign team thereafter raised the the following posers:
•Which First Lady in the Southeast is reputed to freely dish out slaps to aides and government functionaries?
•Which First Lady did her husband openly address as ‘Her Excellency, the Governor’ in a viral video?
•Which First Lady is known to vet government appointments before release?
•Which First Lady chastised her husband’s deputy, to the point of compelling him to defect to another political party, simply because she took umbrage at him paying a private visit to a prominent son of the state”?
The political group further alleged: “The evidence against the governor’s breach of his oath of office and public trust is strong but he is still protected under the immunity clause, but we will see what happens once his immunity elapses.”
We ask again: “Of all the governors of the Southeast, whose immunity is due to expire soon?
“We, therefore, call on our nation’s security agencies not to lend credence to current boasts within government circles in Awka, that the bribery saga would fizzle out in a matter of days.
“On our part, we call on the media, civil society organisations and anti-graft agencies to beam their searchlights on the burgeoning crisis, which is capable of tainting the outcome of the Anambra governorship election, if not nipped in the bud.”
