By Victor Arji
Factional Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Enugu State, Deacon Okey Ogbodo, yesterday, warned one of the contenders for the governorship ticket of the party in the state, Senator Ayogu Eze, to desist from parading himself as the winner of the primary conducted in the state or face disciplinary action.
Ogbodo said, in a strongly worded statement, that Eze should stop “dissipating precious time and resources on a phantom nomination”. According to him, he should desist from “this self destructive path and queue in with the mainstream party structure headed by Ogbodo to work for the success of the party’s flag bearer, Bar. Ogara, and the party, APC , as a whole in next year’s general elections”.
He continued: “Our authentic flag bearer, Bar. George Tagbo Ogara, a candidate, whose imprints have been visible all over Enugu since the pre-primary era and indeed up till this moment, had emerged from a democratically transparent process, as approved by the National Working Committee, NWC, of APC, through direct primaries on October 4, 2018. The primaries took place simultaneously in all the 260 wards in Enugu state.
“Ayogu Eze’s claim is most preposterous, indeed unfounded, because he came last (5th) in the APC primaries held in line with the direct primary election option where he scored 7,690 votes while the winner, George Ogara, scored 57,675 votes. It is, therefore, hilarious how he came to become the so-called APC flag bearer in the state.
“Ayogu Eze is not a candidate an ambitious party like APC can gamble on. He and his co-travellers are apparently on a frolic of their own, and are better advised to desist from their obvious mercantile agenda, to avoid further destabilizing Enugu state APC. It is strange and indeed unfathomable to think that Enugu APC nomination would be sold in a suitcase or handed over to someone in some place other than the homeland, Enugu. Those who claim to be APC flag bearer should point out the address of their campaign office and mention the personnel in charge.
“We have duly transmitted the official list of candidates of the party to the National Secretariat, for onward dispatch to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Abuja, and any super imposition of names other than those that are in the list, would be detrimental to the electoral interest of the APC.”
Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/10/stop-parading-as-apc-gov-candidate-in-enugu-ogbodo-warns-ayogu-eze/
