*Says ruling party must recover stolen mandate
By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
Coalition of All Progressive Congress (APC) campaign groups, yesterday said the nomination of the Labour Party candidate for Isiukwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency, Amobi Ogah is invalid, even as it called on the ruling party hierarchy to intervene and retrieve the mandate which it alleged was stolen by LP in the area.
Briefing journàlists yesterday in Abuja, the leaders of the group described the election as a sham and charade which if allowed to stand, would have thwarted the resolve of the majority of the people of the constituency and set a bad precedent for future elections.
The group led by Retson Tedheke, who is the Secretary, APC Directorates of Agro & Commodities, Comrade Okpokwu Ogenyi, who represents Coalition for Good governance and Change Initiative, Omonu Gowom-Nelson, who is the Lead Director, Centre for Leadership Legacy International and Hon Abdullahi Bilal, who is the National Coordinator, United Arewa Movement for Peace Good Governance, said APC leadership should set up a committee from the existing Presidential Campaign Council to review what transpired during the elections.
“We will like to put it on record that the Labour Party (LP) candidate for Isiukwato/Umunneochi federal constituency, Amaobi Ogah, was not a bonafide member of LP at the time of the party primary, because he left the APC and joined the PDP in March 19, 2022.
“On June 4, 2022, he joined LP and contested the party primaries four days later, June 8. By contesting the primary on June 8, it explains clearly that he was not a member of any political party according to the provisions of the law and Electoral Act, 2022 (as amended)”, the group said.
Speaking further, it said the election in the SouthEast region was rigged by the Labour Party, arguing that “the most outstanding case in view is that of House of Representatives Deputy Chief Whip, Hon Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, representing Isikwato/Umunneochi federal constituency.
“It is on record that Hon Nkeiruka Onyejeocha was the only APC stalwart in Abia State, who openly identified with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and stood on the podium to campaign along with him during the presidential campaign across the region.
“While we do not want to go to some of the issues she openly told Asiwaju during his campaign in the region, which eventually came to pass, we want to say that the party must stand up and reclaim all its stolen mandates in the country.”
The group said concerned stakeholders in the South East have finalized modalities to challenge the outcome of elections in the zone, especially in Abia State where he said candidates who contested on the platform of Labour Party are still running from pillar to post to validate the credibility of their membership of Labour Party, even after elections have been concluded.
Describing the exercise as one fraud too many, the APC group citing Section 77 of the Electoral Act 2022, says “each party is required to maintain a membership register in hard and soft copy and to make such register available to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not later than 30 days before the date fixed for primaries, congresses, and conventions.”
“Recalled that on April 30, 2022, INEC demanded all political parties to submit registers of its members. The Labour Party held its National Assembly primaries on June 8. This was just 4 days after Amaobi Ogah joined the Labour Party.
“It follows that as of 8 June, 2022 when Ogah manipulated his way into the party to secure an illegal ticket, his name was not on the register of the Labour Party which had been submitted to INEC in compliance with the requirement of Section 77 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
“The constitution makes it clear that a candidate must belong to a political party, which Amaobi Ogah was not at the time he contested”, according to the group.
It said though this is not the only basis for which Nkiruka Onyejeocha is challenging the results of Isiukwuato-Umunneochi Federal Constituency election of 25 February, clear evidence of electoral infractions have been compiled to validate their claims.
They said “While Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha has so far approached the Court to reclaim and to challenge what members of her constituency have termed robbery hatched against her, we maintain that the Leadership of the APC at all levels rise to the occasion to retrieve her mandate and that of many others who contested on the platform but were robbed of their mandates through widespread malpractices, voter suppression and falsification of results as witnessed in the South East”.
