New developments have emerged following the exclusion of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and that of Charles Soludo, the candidate of a faction of
New developments have emerged following the exclusion of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and that of Charles Soludo, the candidate of a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the November 6 guber polls.
The INEC had on Friday released the names of 18 candidates to contest the polls. The electoral body omitted Soludo’s name but displayed the name of Chukwuma Umeoji, a federal lawmaker, as the APGA candidate.
INEC also dropping the name of Valentine Ozigbo, who won the PDP primary, from the list of candidates.
The decision of the electoral body was contained in a statement signed by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, on Friday.
He said the decision was arrived at after the commission’s meeting in Abuja, on Thursday.
According to Okoye, INEC took the decisions in obedience to court orders served on the commission in relation to the primaries of the affected political parties.
Both the PDP and APGA factions conducted parallel governorship primary elections, producing separate candidates.
For the APGA, the Victor Oye-led faction produced Soludo, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, while the Jude Okeke-led faction conducted the primary where Umeoji emerged as the candidate.
Similarly, two candidates – Valentine Ozigbo and Ugochukwu Uba – emerged as candidates following a parallel primary by the PDP.
However, in the case of the PDP, a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja on Thursday ordered INEC not to publish the name of any candidate pending the determination of a pending suit challenging the primary.
Following an ex parte application filed by one of the PDP aspirants, Justice Yusuf Halilu directed INEC to maintain the status quo by not publishing any name as the party’s candidate in deference to ongoing proceedings.
The court order in part, “Order that all parties to this suit be put on notice, and I also further order that status quo shall be maintained by INEC by not publishing the name of any candidate as the governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”
At the moment, both Ozigbo and Uba laying claim to the party’s ticket.
In reaction to the development, Mr Soludo urged his supporters to remain calm, stating that despite the odds, his name would be on the ballot.
He added that there was no way Umeoji and his running mate, Obiageli Orogbu, would stand as the representatives of APGA in the election.
Speaking with PUNCH on Friday, Mr. Soludo said, “I will be on the list. I will be the candidate of the APGA in the election. There is nothing to worry about.
“The point is that somebody (Umeoji) was screened and disqualified by the party. He then traveled to Jigawa State to start a court process, created his own NEC, NWC, and also formed his own party. Do you expect that to stand? No, it will not stand. I shall be the candidate of the party because I was duly nominated and elected.”
Soludo
Soludo said the process to vacate the court order obtained by Umeoji had started.
Also commenting on the development, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, told the publication, “For us in the PDP, we have a candidate for the Anambra State governorship election in the person of Valentine Ozibo.
“We had a very transparent party primary witnessed by INEC officials and he emerged as the candidate.”
