Emenike Reassures Supporters of Gubernatorial Mandate
A chieftain and founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Ikechi Emenike, has assured supporters of the sanctity of his candidacy in the 2019 Abia governorship election. Emenike stated that the controversy trailing the APC’s governorship primary in the state would be resolved in his favour either by the party leadership or the court of law.
Emenike was declared winner (Obidikee1) of the APC governorship primaries held on September 30 by Dr. Emmanuel Ndukwe’s faction of Abia State’s APC. Prof. Okezie Abariukwu, Chief Returning Officer, announced in Umuahia that Emenike received a total of 274,133 votes to defeat other six contenders in the party’s governorship primary election. His name was, however, omitted from the list the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He described the list of candidates forwarded to INEC as Adams Oshiomhole’s “private list” that would not stand the test of the law. (Oshiomhole is the National Chairman of APC). “I believe strongly that that list is, perhaps at best, Governor Oshiomhole’s ‘private list,’ which he used his office to forward to INEC. And I’m reassuring the vast supporters of the APC that it will not be the final list at the end of the day,” Emenike said.
He regretted that the APC was saddled with a national chairman that shows disdain for court orders and pronouncements. “Ultimately, we have to wait and see how it pans out. A lot of us who are governorship candidates are in court. And as long as Nigeria is a country governed by the rule of law and practices constitutional democracy, the antics of one man cannot prevail. So, I believe quite frankly that the list is not going to be final,” Emenike said.
Notwithstanding the temporary setback on realising his governorship aspiration, has called on aggrieved members not to leave the party because of the antics of Oshiomhole. “The bottom line, like we tell our members, is to still remain in the party. And that is the good news because, before, virtually everybody would have jumped out of the party. But the attitude is that we are the pioneer members of the party and should not leave the party we founded and nurtured for new entrants to take over,” Emenike said.