Gov. Peter Obi and Dora Akunyili
With the re-run of the Anambra Central senatorial race scheduled to take place on Tuesday in a few communities, Governor Peter Obi and Professor Dora Akunyili, the senatorial candidate of the All Peoples Grand Alliance (AGPA), have been moving through Nimo, Enugwu Ukwu and Umunnachi since yesterday doling out cash, bags of rice and textile in bid to buy votes.
Professor Akunyili will face off former Governor Chris Ngige of the Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN).
Naija News Desk has received information that Governor and Prof. Akunyili have distributed five bags of rice plus 50,000 naira per kindred group in the communities where the re-runs will take place.
Governor Obi has also met with Professor Elochukwu Amucheazi, one of his allies in Umunnachi, and given him an undisclosed amount of money to use in buying votes on Tuesday, according to a source who is a commissioner in the governor’s cabinet. Prof. Amucheazi is the chancellor of Anambra University. In addition, the governor yesterday donated a bus to a school in Umunnachi.
A source close to Prof. Akunyili revealed that the former Minister of Information sent operatives to the Onitsha market yesterday to buy more than 2000 pieces of Ankara textile called “High Target” for distribution to groups of women in the various constituencies.
But several leaders in the affected communities told Naija News Desk that their people would not be swayed by the open bribery.
“Governor Obi was threatening us before that if we don’t vote for the people he brought out we will suffer,” said a leader in one of the communities. “So, now he has discovered that you cannot play politics of intimidation and win.”
Another source, a priest, told Naija News Desk that Governor Obi “is known for using people and dumping them,” adding that most of the priests who supported him last year during the governorship election have discovered that he has no honor. The priest added that Prof. Akunyili “is unlucky that Obi is working with her. In Anambra today, Governor Obi is a liability.”
One community spokesman questioned why the usually tight-fisted Governor Obi was now going about spreading cash. “Is it not our money that he is throwing about left and right and thinks people should say ‘thank sir’ to him and support his candidate?” he asked.
A group of Anambra indigenes based in Abuja have also disclosed that they plan to return next week to monitor the election to ensure that Governor Obi’s thugs do not intimidate voters or steal the election for the APGA candidate. A spokesman for the group, who is an indigene of Agulu, the hometown of Governor Obi and Prof.
Akunyili, said his group was formed to expose the hypocrisy of the governor and the former minister.
The source also disclosed that Professor Akunyili took advantage of the Agulu community by hijacking part of the huge parcel of land the people had donated for a NAFDAC laboratory for herself. “This woman is today building her personal mansion on a parcel of land that our people made available for a lab,” the source said. “Her house under construction is one of the biggest in the southeast. Where did she get the money?”
Another source revealed that Prof. Akunyili recently completed a massive hotel in Independence Layout near the former PTF office in Enugu. “If this woman is holy as she proclaims, then let her tell us how she obtained the funds to build a brand new hotel?” the source said.
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