My victory did not come cheap –Andy Uba

Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator-elect, Anambra South Senatorial, Andy Uba yesterday said his victory did not come cheap. He noted that he contested against Governor Peter Obi in the Tuesday by-election, which pitched him against Chuma Nzeribe of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), and not the party candidate, adding however that he had put all that behind him and was ready to work with the governor for the good of the state.

Uba told State House correspondents after his visit to the Vice President, Namadi Sambo that, “first of all, I have to thank God because if not for Him, I would not have won that election. I ran the election with the governor, not the candidate. The arsenal I saw in that election was huge.
“The governor put in everything he has, all the state apparatus were used: the commissioners, president of town union, people in local government, the House. All of them moved down to my senatorial zone.”

He also noted that his victory was an indication that Anambra State is a PDP state “because we defeated him before and we defeated him now.
“People voted for who they wanted, they are not voting for parties anymore. Once you can give them what they want, they will vote for you. The governor had more money and resources than me. He had everything in his disposal, but at the end, they lost,” he said.
Now that electioneering was over, Uba said he had expected the governor to congratulate him, which he failed to do until he (Uba) called him to reassure him of his support.

“Now that election is over I expected the governor to call me and congratulate me but I called him. That was what I did last time when I lost. I called him and congratulated him. People were going to court but I did not. I told him I was ready to work with him. I am ready to work with the governor. I have told him to forget party affiliation and look at the people we are trying to serve so that we can come together to help the state.

“I will continue what I was doing in the Senate. I was going through my constituency projects to make sure I do what my people want. The budget has been done but I will look at it to see what is there for us. I am going to follow up from where I stopped.”
Uba also spoke on last Saturday PDP convention, saying that it was democracy in action.
“You saw democracy working. None of the contestants were forced to withdraw. You saw that people were ready to vote and they were there.