Awka — RUMOURS were rife yesterday that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 2007 governorship candidate in Anambra State, Dr. Andy Uba, may be joining another political party after his quest to take over from the incumbent Governor Peter Obi hit the brick wall following the Appeal Court's ruling last week.

The speculation was that Uba will be crossing over to either the Labour Party (LP) or the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC).

PDP state factional chairman loyal to Uba, Mr. Bright Nebedum, however, dismissed the speculation at first when he said, "don't mind them, it is because he is coming home tomorrow (today), that's why they are carrying propaganda against him. Andy Uba is in PDP and remains in PDP. There is nothing like that."

But his subsequent comment appeared to be a pointer that a fresh move from the politician may be imminent. "When it is time, you will know. In fact, he is coming tomorrow (today), come and ask him all these questions," Nebedum said.

When contacted, chairmen of Labour Party and CDC in the state, Jude Nwafor and Edozie Madu, respectively, denied the rumour, saying they don't believe in rumours, but in concrete facts.

Attempts to contact the Labour Party candidate in the next year's governorship election in the state, Dr. Mike Areh, proved abortive as calls put to his phone were unsuccessful, with the line indicating that the phone was switched off.

However, the rumour of the impending defection was so thick in Anambra yesterday that our correspondent contacted Uba himself on phone, only for him to quickly hang up after our correspondent introduced himself. Other calls subsequently put to the phone were not answered.

Uba is among the personalities to be awarded honourary doctorate degree by Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, at the institution's convocation ceremony slated for today.

Already, activities have been lined up to celebrate Uba's honour, which will commence at the town of Amansea, near Awka, where his loyalists numbering over 5,000 will receive him on arrival for the award, before accompanying him to the PDP office, where he will address party members on the next line of action.

As at the time of filing this report, mobilization for this reception was on top gear.

Uba's quest to occupy the governorship of Anambra State has turned out to be a long journey of vicissitudes, which has taken him from one court to the other after his initial successful assumption of office was on June 14, 2007, truncated by the Supreme Court barely 16 days after, following a landmark ruling on Obi's tenure.

While his latest failure at the Court of Appeal has foreclosed every possibility of his reclaiming his mandate of April 14, 2007 , his failure to pick the nomination form of the PDP in September had denied him the chances of getting another mandate on the platform of the party, next year.