Saharareporters has learnt that former Information Minister Dora Akunyili has decided to defy her husband and concluded plans to file a petition before an electoral tribunal challenging her defeat at last week’s Anambra Central senatorial election.
Saharareporters has learnt that former Information Minister Dora Akunyili has decided to defy her husband and concluded plans to file a petition before an electoral tribunal challenging her defeat at last week’s Anambra Central senatorial election.
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Mrs. Akunyili, a professor of pharmacy and former director-general of NAFDAC, contested the senatorial seat as a candidate of the All People’s Grand Alliance (APGA), but lost to former Governor Chris Nwabueze Ngige who ran on the ticket of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Two sources close to the Akunyili family disclosed that Mrs. Akunyili’s husband, a medical doctor, had advised his wife against filing a petition against the election.
“Dr. Akunyili and some members of the family felt that it would damage Professor Akunyili’s reputation and image further if she goes to the tribunal,” said one source. He added, “After agreeing with her husband not to file an appeal, Professor Akunyili then spoke with [Governor] Peter Obi and they arranged to file a petition in the name of APGA.”
Mrs. Akunyili provoked widespread criticism when she announced that she would not congratulate Mr. Ngige, claiming that the ACN candidate had hired thugs to intimidate those who wanted to vote for her. Some critics felt that her attitude smacked of contempt for the voters and exposed her as a sore loser.
A source told SaharaReporters that Mr. Akunyili felt that his wife’s vow to mount an appeal against Mr. Ngige’s election could be perceived as a kind of desperation that might damage her political career. Since stating her rejection of the results, Mrs. Akunyili has been castigated as a sore loser as well as a hypocrite whose famous “re-brand Nigeria” campaign during her tenure as Information Minister was bogus.
Our sources indicated that Mrs. Akunyili had promised her husband that she would call off plans to file a petition, only to turn around to ink a different plan with Governor Obi.
A source who is a commissioner in Anambra revealed that Governor Obi was stung by the defeat of Mrs. Akunyili, who comes from the same town as the governor. Governor Obi and Mrs. Akunyili had distributed massive amounts of cash as well as bags of rice and bales of cloths to voters in a bid to snatch the election from Mr. Ngige. Saharareporters published exposes of Mrs. Akunyili’s operatives handing out bags of rice and financial inducement to voters in Nimo, one of the communities where INEC organized rerun polls.
“It seems as if the voters took their money and yet voted against APGA,” said the commissioner, adding, “the governor is in actual fact responsible for the way that Professor Akunyili and others lost in the elections.” The commissioner said that Governor Obi and the people around him know that Mr. Ngige won the election, but disclosed that “anything ‘Onwa’ [Ngige’s titular name] gives our governor stomachache. That is why he and [APGA chairman] Chief Vin Umeh have convinced Professor Akunyili that they should pursue the case in court.”
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