All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, Mr Osita Okechukwu, on Sunday, declared that the party’s guber candidate in Enugu State, Senator Ayogu Eze has no valid petition to withdraw from the election petition tribunal.
Okechukwu spoke in reaction to Senator Eze’s speech during a visit by a delegation of Nsukka Cultural zone stakeholders.
Eze had told them that he would not constitute a cog in the wheel of the State’s progress, adding that he would convey to them, his decision with regards to the election petition, after due consultations.
Reacting, Okechukwu advised him to first apologize to the APC.
He said, “I read the statement, in some national newspapers, and one had not been consulted. To be honest, one will first and foremost advice him to first apologize to our dear chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, indeed and most importantly leaders and members of APC Enugu State Chapter for anti-party activity, deception, and divisiveness, which killed the momentum we gathered during the local government election of 2018.
“Ayogu joined few weeks to the 2019 general elections, instead of uniting further divided and fictionalized our great party. He never seriously campaigned, he was most of the time at Abuja and acted more or less like a mole of Anti-Party variant. I said then that the contest was PDP vs PDP.
“I am for peace and harmony of our dear state and will do anything possible to usher development. I thank him for the love and passion he has for our people. That’s why am working in liaison with the federal and state governments to revamp Enugu Coal, for our people to benefit from Central Bank of Nigeria Agriculture Anchor Borrowers Program and Enugu Water Scheme.”
On why he thinks Senator Eze had no valid petition, he said, “Blcandidly, Senator Ayogu Eze withdrew his candidature publicly on the same day, INEC conducted gubernatorial election nationwide – 9th March 2019. Let him not deceive us further, enough of Nollywood play. He acted a mole and danced from the pillar of Juliet Ibekaku’s faction to the Ben Nwoye’s post faction and connived in mangling our primaries. Without his Anti-Party activities, President Buhari could have made the 25% threshold in Enugu State. He should give us account of the tranche of campaign monies given to him by our dear national chairman.
“The truism is that Eze withdrew from day one, by boycotting the gubernatorial election on Election Day, alleging foul play and told journalists in his country home at Umuozzi in Enugu-Ezike, Igboeze North local government area that he was angry that his name was not included among governorship candidates contesting in the state. He alleged that INEC published final list of candidates leaving out his name in spite of Appeal Court order reinstating him as the APC governorship candidate.
“Eze in his Nollywood fashion played the role of INEC by canceling the election and heaped the blame on INEC when he said, ‘INEC claims to have party logos on the ballot paper so why didn’t they publish only the logos of all the political parties and leave the candidates?’
“Sincerely, my brother, Senator Ayogu Eze has no serious petition to withdraw. He knows he has no case, since he withdrew on Election Day. This is a man who refused all entreaties to withdraw PDP’s primary case, in 2014, which he fought for years to the Supreme Court Level.
“If he had campaigned, didn’t engage in Anti-Party activity and didn’t withdraw on Election Day, he won’t listen to anybody.” (DP)
