More politician fate hanging as names are absent from INEC list
INEC
A cloud is hanging over the second term ambition of Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday withdrew the list of Governorship candidates in the state.
The fear of contempt of court has also made the INEC to remove the name of Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State from the list of contestants pasted on Sunday evening.
And there is tension in Anambra over the list showing that those picked are members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faction whose arrowhead is Chris Uba.
The withdrawal of the list in Enugu came less than 24 hours after Chime’s name and that of his Deputy, Sunday Onyebuchi, were displayed in forms CF001 and CF002 at INEC state headquarters as PDP candidates.
Others on the list earlier displayed included Okechukwu Ezea (Labour Party, LP) and Dan Shere (People for Democratic Change, PDC), the new platform of the Ebeano political structure of former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, now a Senator.
State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Josiah Uwazuruonye, told journalists that the list was withdrawn on the directive of INEC National Commissioner (Legal Services), Philip Umeadi Jnr.
Uwazuruonye declined further comment, but it was learnt that the withdrawal may be connected with an Abuja High Court order which restrained the PDP and the INEC from dealing with Chime and 37 others as PDP candidates in Enugu State.
Justice Abdu Kafarati ordered the PDP and the INEC to recognise Anayo Onwuegbu as the PDP candidate pending the determination of the suit filed by Onwuegbu and 37 others.
However, the withdrawal of the entire list by the INEC upset other political parties which felt that the internal matter of the PDP should not prevent the publication of the names of other candidates in line with the Electoral Act.
A source in the state INEC secretariat blamed political thugs for the removal of the entire list, saying the Commission had removed only the forms of PDP candidates, but the thugs tore off everything on the notice board, including the forms of other candidates.
INEC boss Attahiru Jega.
In reaction, a statement issued by the Media Director of the Chime Campaign, Chuks Ugwuoke, said the removal of his name “does not vitiate the irreducible fact that (Chime) was duly nominated by the PDP and had since filled and returned his nomination form to the INEC.”
The mood of Uba’s opponents in Anambra on Tuesday became gloomy when it dawned on them that the list the INEC published in Awka contains only the names of candidates submitted by him.
There are several camps in the Anambra PDP.
The Uba faction is led by Benji Udozor, the Okwesileze Nwodo faction sent national officers to conduct the primaries in the state, the Senator Annie Okonkwo faction and the Chudi Ofodile faction both conducted their own party primaries and proclaimed winners.
Nevertheless, state REC, Chukwuemeka Onukogu, had insisted that he would only recognise the Uba group following its legal victory.
But Nwodo, former PDP National Chairman, had said from the beginning that he would not have anything to do with the Uba camp even if it means the party losing Anambra.
After news of the list broke on Tuesday, most of the PDP officials could not be reached. Chuks Okoye’s telephone line was switched off, ditto that of Udozor.
When PDP National Vice Chairman (South East), Olisa Metuh, was reached, he spoke in low tones, saying he was occupied with other matters.
Pressed to comment, Metuh said that he was yet to see the list and asked the reporter to call him later.
PDP Senate candidates listed are Andy Uba, Ogugua Okoye, and John Emeka.
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Senate contestants approved are Jessie Balonwu, Uzoma Igbonwa, and Chris Atuegwu.
Those of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) are former Information and Communications Minister, Dora Akunyili; Joy Emodi; and Chuma Nzeribe..
In Oyo, INEC Public Relations Officer, Ayodele Folami, said Alao-Akala’s name was removed from the list in compliance with the directive of INEC headquarters in Abuja.
He said it was based on the order of an Ibadan Federal High Court which barred the INEC from accepting or receiving the list of candidates from the state PDP following alleged inconclusive congresses held from December 29 to December 31 last year.
The court on Monday threatened the INEC with contempt for pasting the list of candidates of the PDP) in Oyo State against the ruling of Justice J.E. Shakarho on February 1.
However, in Ogun, Governor Gbenga Daniel has assured his supporters that none of the candidates who won the primaries conducted by his faction of the PDP would be substituted.
He made the pledge in Sagamu on Tuesday, the day after the state INEC published the name of Adetunji Olurin as PDP Governorship candidate, with Tunde Oladunjoye as his running mate.
Daniel reminded his supporters who visited him in his private residence, “Asoludero Court” that the primaries his faction held at the Moshood Abiola Stadium last month were witnessed by policemen and officials of the INEC and the State Security Service (SSS).
Gboyega Isiaka emerged as the Daniel faction Governorship candidate, Olurin came through from the faction headed by President Olusegun Obasanjo’s camp.
Daniel said his supporters prevented him from going to the President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign rally in Ibadan.
“They told me that the people of the state are not happy,” said Daniel, the South West Co-ordinator of the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign.
“We have been ruling Ogun State with honesty and truth, and the people of Ogun appreciate and commend us.
“But some people came and they were disorganising things; they claim to be God.”
Daniel wondered what has become the fate of the PDP in the South West, citing how PDP Governors began to lose out through impeachment, first Rashidi Ladoja (Oyo), then Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti).
“In 2003, the people rallied round us and voted for the PDP, but the first casualty was in Oyo, when Ladoja was impeached, followed by Ekiti where Fayose, who was a very hard-working Governor, was removed.
“We are yet to be told what Fayose stole that other people have not stolen 10 times. People who stole the nation dry are walking free on the streets today.
“The South West lost Ondo, which is the third child. Osun State, which is the fourth (the one we thought was the preferred child) also went with the wind.”
He did not say how, but assured his supporters that he would not lead them astray.
In another complication in its ranks, the PDP on Tuesday told a Federal High Court in Abuja that its faction in Ogun loyal to former President Olusegun Obasanjo fraudulently got the restraining order stopping the INEC from recognising candidates presented by the Daniel faction.
Justice Abdu Kafarati on January 26 granted the injunction restraining the INEC from accepting the candidates who won primaries conducted by the Daniel camp.
The court restrained the INEC and the PDP from accepting candidates presented by the dissolved state party executive chaired by Joju Fadairo.
It made the order based on a suit filed by Olurin, Babatunde Fadun, Dave Salako, Wale Solaja, and Seun Adesanya.
At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, PDP counsel Lateef Fagbemi told the court in a motion he filed seeking to vacate the order that the plaintiffs misrepresented facts before the order was secured.
Fagbemi asked the court for an order discharging, setting aside or vacating the interim order of injunction made on January 26, having been made without jurisdiction and on the basis of concealed material facts and misrepresentation of facts by the plaintiffs.
Souirce:Daily Independent
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