Following the mass defection of stalwarts of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), indications have emerged that the national leadership of the ruling party has ruled out the admission of billionaire oil-magnate, Prince Arthur Eze, former Governor Peter Obi and incumbent Willie Obiano, into the party.
The development comes on the heels of fresh confusion over the authentic candidates to contest the rerun election for Anambra Central Senatorial district, which was ordered by the Court of Appeal after the nullification of the election of erstwhile Senator Uche Lillian Ekwunife on December 6, 2015.
Sources close to Ekwunife, who recently defected to APC, confided in The Guardian that the former senator decided to jump ship to avoid the myriad of leadership crisis bedeviling the PDP both at national and state levels.
While declaring for APC, Ekwunife said her election “was mischievously cancelled”, stressing that the Appeal Court turned itself to a Father Christmas by granting a relief not sought for by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Victor Umeh, the petitioner.
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She recalled how a Federal High Court Abuja had prior to the Appeal Court judgment, upheld her candidacy in a suit filed by Chief Sylvester Annie Okonkwo, challenging the validity of her nomination and wondered why the court should rule that she was not duly and legitimately nominate as the PDP candidate.
“The outcome of what we witnessed was a conspiracy between some elements in PDP and the state government”, she added; lamenting that “even if I were not the valid candidate, the right thing for the court was to declare whosoever came second in the PDP Primaries as the authentic candidate, thereby replacing me as it is purely a party matter.”
Apart from the confusion as to who, between Ekwunife and Chief Okonkwo, was the authentic PDP candidate for the Anambra Central Senatorial district, APGA is also troubled by two contending candidates between Umeh and Barrister Obi Okafor of the Maxi Okwu faction.
Last week, stakeholders in Anambra Central Senatorial district, after a meeting at Njikoka, endorsed Ekwunife for the Senate seat, even as they declared that the zone cannot toy with the idea of having “a non-ranking senator in the senate at this point in time.”
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