Ararume, Eze, others know fate today

BY NDUBUISI ORJI AND CHINELO OBOGO

Going by the guidelines of the Independent Nation­al Electoral Commission regarding the conduct of the 22015 elections, all the political parties are expected to submit names of their governor­ship candidate today.

This simple exercise of name sub­mission should not have raised any dust, but for the controversies sur­rounding the processes that threw up a few candidates in some states, espe­cially under the umbrella of the ruling Peoples Democratic party (PDP).

So, today, some PDP governorship aspirants, who lay claims to the party’s tickets for the 2015 general election in Imo, Enugu, Ogun and Adamawa states will know their fate as the electoral umpire is set to publish the list of the authentic candidates for the February 28 governorship election.

The aspirants are Senator Ifeanyi Araraume versus Emeka Ihedioha, Imo; Senator Ayogu Eze versus Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu; Mr. Gboyega Nasiru Isiaka versus Dimeji Bankole, Ogun and former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Com­mission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu versus Awwal Tukur, Adamawa.

The PDP governorship primaries in the aforementioned states were dogged by controversy with many aspirants laying claims to the governorship tickets of the party in the states. The publication of the list of the governor­ship candidates by the electoral umpire will lay to rest, at least for now, the issue of who is the PDP governorship candidates in the concerned states.

Section 31(3) of the Electoral Act, 2010(as amended) provides for the publications of personal particulars of candidates within seven days of the re­ceipt of Form CF001 from the various political parties.

Although the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon Emeka Ihedioha was announced as the winner of the PDP governorship primaries in Imo State, Araraume had petitioned against the result, stating that him and not Ihedioha scored the highest number of votes.

In a letter to the Chairman, Imo PDP Governorship Primaries, Tengu Tsegba, the former senator had contended that “From all indications, I was shortchanged, while Emeka Ihedioha was awarded figures he never earned. The truth is that I won the election as the figures announced by you clearly indicated.

“Your committee declared the following figures: total number of ac­credited delegates 1,064, total number of votes cast 1, 017, total number of void votes 11, total number of valid votes 1,006

“The total number of votes obtained by the aspirants as announced by the committee far exceeds the total number of votes cast. This means that there is an excess of 21 votes.

“The total number of votes scored by aspirant 1 to 26 as declared by the returning officer is 345.

“The total number of votes scored by me (Senator Ifeanyi Araraume) as announced is 336. The total number of votes scored by aspirant 1 to 26 (345) plus the total number of votes scored by me (Senator Ifeanyi Araraume) equal to 681. The total number of valid votes cast as announced is equal to 1, 006 votes.

“The total number of votes obtained by aspirant 1 to 26 plus that obtained by me is equal to 681. The total num­ber of valid votes cast minus the total number of votes scored by aspirant 1 to 26 plus that scored by me (681) is equal to 325.

“Therefore, it means that the total number of votes left is 325 which is what Emeka Ihedioha actually scored.”

In the case of Ogun, the validity of the governorship primary that produced Gboyega has been in contention. This is because of an alleged directive from the party’s headquarters putting the exercise on hold the day it was held, a development that made some of the PDP governorship aspirants stay away from the primary.

Though, the state chairman of party, Bayo Dayo has declared that Isiaka is the party’s choice, supporters of former Speaker of the House of Representa­tives, Dimeji Bankole still enthuse that he stands the chance of making the INEC list.

In Enugu State, the governorship pri­mary election is trailed by controversy because of the disagreement over the list of delegates used for the exercise by the electoral panel. As a result of the disagreement, some of the aspirants held parallel primaries which produced three candidates. The candidates that emerged from the parallel primaries are Senator Ayogu Eze, a member of the House of representatives, Ifeanyi Ug­wuanyi and Professor Onyeke O. On­yeke, all from Enugu North senatorial zone where the governorship slot had been zoned by the party. It is however believed that Ugwuanyi is favored by Governor Sullivan Chime and has his backing and that of the national body.

Before the primary, some members of the party in the state had gone to court asking it to authenticate the del­egates list that would be used and the list of authentic delegates was duly certified by the Federal High Court sit­ting in Abuja.

Also, Chime had also assured party stakeholders at a meeting that was held before the primaries began that only the delegates “approved by the Abuja Court” would participate in the prima­ries hence in most of the constituen­cies, the list of delegates contained in the Certified True Copy obtained from the court was used for the primaries.

But this was not to be, as the elec­toral panel informed the governorship aspirants that another list of delegates was given to them by the PDP National Secretariat Abuja and it was different from the Federal High Court’s Copy, which was shown to him by Senator Eze. This revelation caused an uproar among the aspirants and their support­ers and led to the conduct of parallel primaries where different candidates emerged. As the crisis deepened, Sena­tor Eze dragged the state chapter of the party to the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, asking the court to declare him the candidate of the party on the grounds that the delegates list that was used was not the one certified by the court.

In Adamawa State, the case was not different. The PDP declared the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu as the winner of its controversial primary which was held in Abuja. The emergence of Ribadu has been met with stiff opposition from local party officials in the state and other gover­norship aspirants who described the primary as illegal and unconstitutional. The aspirants include Awwal Tukur, the son of former National Chair­man Bamanga Tukur; former Execu­tive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission Dr Ahmad Moddibo; former governorship candi­date of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Marcus Gundiri; retired General Aliyu Kama and the incum­bent governor, Bala Ngilari

The national secretariat of the party said that its decision to hold the prima­ries in Abuja was because of an alleged intimidation of the electoral committee, headed by Ambassador Tim Ehemadu, sent to Yola to conduct the elections.

 

 

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