The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has published the list and personal particulars of candidates and their running mates for the November 6, Governorship Election in Anambra State.
In the list published yesterday, the electoral umpire, in obedience to orders of the court, dropped the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Mr Valentine Ozigbo and that of the All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.
The commission, instead, named Chukwuma Michael Umeoji as the candidate of APGA.
While it named Ifeanyi Patrick Ubah as the candidate of the YPP, it also named Dr Emmanuel Andy Nnamdi Uba as that of the All Progressives Congress APC. INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr. Festus Okoye in a statement said INEC had met the previous day and among other things considered the list/personal particulars of candidates nominated by the various political parties for the Anambra State Governorship election scheduled to hold on 6th November 2021.
He said: “The Commission also considered and took cognizance of the Judgments/Court Orders served on it in relation to the primaries of the political parties and other processes leading to the election.
“In line with section 31(3) of the Electoral Act, 2010(as amended) the personal particulars of the candidates will be published in the Commissions Notice Board in Awka, Anambra State while the names of the candidates, their gender, party, age, qualification and the Commissions decision/ remarks are herein attached.
“The Commission will continue to act in consonance with the Constitution and the law and will continue to obey the judgments and orders of courts served on it.”
Following the surprise development many people who discussed the issue in groups in Awka, Anambra State capital, wondered why some people were creating confusion in the party, with some of them threatening to boycott the forthcoming election.
But allaying the fears of the APGA supporters in the state, a member of Soludo Campaign Organization, Mr Joe Anatune said the development was only a temporary setback, adding that Soludo won the primaries of the party.
Anatune said: “Our millions of supporters in Anambra State and elsewhere are advised not to be dispirited by the publication. Professor Charles Soludo will participate in the governorship election as the APGA candidate.
“Our team of dedicated and competent legal experts has studied the judgment and is confident of overturning it effortlessly. The party is at liberty to nominate the right candidate so long as due process is followed. Soludo’s nomination followed due process religiously.
Also, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) South-East zone has insisted that it will win the forthcoming Anambra gubernatorial election despite the decision of INEC to exclude the party’s candidate from the list of candidates published for the election.
In a statement released by the zonal publicity secretary of the party, Mr Augustine Elochukwu Okeke, yesterday, the party described the election umpire’s decision as merely procedural and does not imply that the party will not participate in the election.
Part of the statement reads: “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released a list of candidates for November 06, 2021, Anambra governorship election which notably did not include the candidate of People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
“To this end, the PDP South-East Zone, wishes to reassure our teeming supporters and the general public, that the non-inclusion of the name of PDP’s candidate in the list by INEC is procedural and does not imply that PDP will not participate in the coming election. “One would recall that faced with multiple litigations during the Imo North Senatorial bye-election, INEC took a similar stance by not including a candidate’s name for the All Progressive Congress in the list.
“The considerable public interest, commentaries and concern shown by Nigerians who are worried about the non-inclusion of PDP in the list, is a testament to the acceptance of PDP as the party that Nigerians and Anambra people implicitly trust to deliver good governance for Anambra people”.