Criminal Politics: Violence, “Godfathers” and Corruption in Nigeria

in Anambra reached the same conclusions and witnessed the same widespread
fraud during the Presidential polls there one week later. 276
Protest riots ensued in some areas as angry would-be voters and opposition
supporters burned down government buildings, INEC offices and burned tires in the
streets, but the heavy-handed efforts of the PDP to rig the election appeared to yield
dividends. The official results indicated a crushing victory for Andy Uba as Governor
and fabricated voter turnout figures far higher than anything observed by credible
observers in any part of the state. 277
When Human Rights Watch went to the INEC office on the morning after the
gubernatorial polls to seek an official copy of the results, staff suggested the INEC
officials with access to the results could be found at the Grand Hotel in Awka, where
Andy Uba’s campaign was holding its victory party. At the hotel, no one had any idea
of the results, but the victory party was in full swing as armed men and uniformed
police mingled by the pool drinking champagne.
Uba’s celebration was short-lived, however. Months prior to the elections Governor
Peter Obi had filed a lawsuit arguing that he had been robbed of his term in office
because of the years-long delay in declaring him the winner of the 2003 election.
Days after Uba was sworn in as governor, Nigeria’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of
Obi in that case, granting Obi the right to serve a full four years in office. Uba’s
election was null and void, and gubernatorial elections will not be held in Anambra
State until 2010. 278
That court ruling did not address the open rigging of the 2007 polls in Anambra; it
simply ruled that gubernatorial elections should never have been held in Anambra in
the first place. The fabricated results in other races across Anambra are being
challenged but still stand as of this writing. The ruling itself is also not without
276 Human Rights Watch interviews with international and domestic election observers stationed in Anambra State on April 14
and April 21, 2007, Awka and Abuja, April 2007.
277 Andy Uba was awarded 1,093,004 votes as against 71,296 for Virgy Etiaba of APGA, in second-place.
278 Editorial “Anambra and the Peter Obi case: matters arising” The Guardian June 27, 2007. Essentially, the Supreme Court
ruled that Obi was entitled to a full four-year term in office from the date of his swearing-in as Governor. Because of the yearslong
delay in resolving his legal challenge to the 2003 elections, that term did not begin until 2006.
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