“Ogah’s Guber Race, A Huge Deceit”, Ogah, Azubuike Exchange Heavy Blows, Open ‘Can Of Worms’

The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the 2019 gubernatorial election in Abia State, Dr Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah, has described as laughable, the report that his last governorship pursuit was a deceit.

He spoke in reaction to a media report credited to Mr Damian Kamalu, where he alleged that his (Ogah’s) campaign was a deceit targeted at securing a ministerial slot, and not for winning election.

Kamalu, in an article entitled ‘Dr. Uche Ogah’s Quest For Governorship: A Deceit’, had called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to consider Ogah for any ministerial slot, warning it will be tantamount to aiding and abetting of deceit, if his warnings are not heeded to.

He accused Uche Ogah of not running a solid campaign, saying it’s a pointer that he (Ogah) had negotiated with the PDP for monetary compensation.

He said the guber candidate deliberately withheld funds meant for the exercise till the election morning, thereby, giving the opposition an upper edge in the election.

He accused Ogah of deliberately waiting till the close of petition window before filing a case before the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.

“Dr Uche Ogah’s petition at the election tribunal has just been struck out on Saturday, something that is not of surprise to many people any longer because it has been made obvious before now that he was never serious ab initio.

“Ogah never bothered to collect his results on LGA by LGA basis to discover his areas of strengths and weaknesses that would have aided him in the petition. Secondly, he deliberately refused to pay for the required certified true copies (CTC) of the INEC results. Thirdly, he never paid his lawyer on time to enable him do the necessary filling, if at all he has paid him by now, and as a result the filling was done about eleven (11) days after the stipulated time by the Electoral Act, a purely deliberate ploy by Dr Uche Ogah to make himself to be disqualified in the whole petition matter.”

He said Ogah deceived the House of Assembly candidates into believing that he sponsored them with his personal money whereas the funds were from the party at the national level, adding that not all candidates got a share of the money at the end of the day.

He alleged that till date, Ogah had kept mute on the amount received from the centre APC for the governorship and house of assembly election.

“Dr Uche Ogah keeps giving everybody the impression that nothing was given by the party at the centre. When the issue was to be discussed at the forum comprising all candidates in Abia, Dr Uche Ogah quickly exited the group and few minutes later, the forum was abruptly dissolved by one of his aides who eventually was the admin of that WhatsApp forum. And two days later, when the matter was raised in another forum Dr Uche Ogah belonged, he immediately exited the platform and till today, nobody knows how much the party at the centre gave for Abia guber/house of assembly elections.”

Reacting to the allegations, however, Mr Clinton Otoro Nwaubani, who wrote on behalf of the guber candidate, said without Ogah, the APC could not have won a single seat in Abia House of Assembly.

He described the allegations levelled against Uche Ogah as “totally untrue”, insisting that he (Ogah) worked for the APC in the last general election.

Nwaubani accused Kamalu of betrayal, while alleging that he was sponsored by his “pay master”, Hon Martins Azubuike, who was Ogah’s running mate in the governorship election.

However, the rebuttal by Nwaubani seemed to have drawn more exasperation from Abia people as many keen observers and members of the APC seemed dissatisfied with the rejoinder which they mostly termed as “watery” and “below par.”

The rebuttal has since raised a dust in some quarters with many accusing him of deliberately avoiding some of the issues raised by Damian Kamalu.

A political commentator who commented on the rebuttal, tagged it ‘below par’ rejoinder.

He said the writer had only succeeded in exposing further truths while deliberately hiding “facts”.

He said, “I expected him to give a breakdown of how much was received for the polls and amount expended.

“He only succeeded in affirming the allegations in the previous report, instead of reeling out figures to absolve Uche Ogah.”

Another political analyst who gave his name simply as Mr. Chidi, said; “Abians are suffering from bad leadership, both APC and PDP. Nonsense! If they did not come together for a common good of Abians, it is still going to be family afair.”

A Facebook user who commented on the post, wrote; “Did Uche Ogah actually contest the election? APC in the day, PDP at night. Nonsense!”

Sources, mostly members of the Abia APC who pleaded anonymity, said they were disappointed in the “watery defense.” They were, however, unanimous in their stance that Uche Ogah should give a proper account of the expenditures and “where, who and what he spent the monies on.”

They argued that Ogah abandoned his party, the APC and the leaders in the guise of prudency, only for him to show up on the election morning.

“Despite the fact that the party sent money from Abuja, we did not see money to spend on the election. I read he gave some units how much? (Sic). It is laughable that Ogah would write through a pseudonym instead of coming out to address issues.”

A party chieftain who identified himself simply as David, said the rebuttal by the guber candidate was not only shameful but insulting to the intelligence of Abia APC.

READ FULL STATEMENT HERE: http://igberetvnews.com/748568/ogahs-guber-race-a-huge-deceit-ogah-azubuike-exchange-heavy-fire-open-can-of-worms/

Cc: Lalasticlala, Mynd44, OAM4J

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