Five All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirants in Imo State have declared support for Sen. Hope Uzodinma, the declared winner of the Imo State governorship primaries conducted on Oct. 1 by the Ahmed Gulak Election Committee.
Uzondinma defeated the governor’s candidate and son-in-law, Uche Nsowu. The aspirants in a communique read by one of them and current Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere, at a news conference on Friday in Abuja, affirmed that the primary election which was conducted in the 305 electoral wards of the 27 local government areas of the state, was authentic and should be upheld by the party.
They vowed not to participate in any fresh primary election in the state, saying they would stand by the election conducted by the Ahmed Gulak Committee, which produced Uzodinma as winner. They expressed concern that the APC, which was a great party in the country and beyond, was being made to appear ridiculous over the governorship matter.
They said, “it would be in the best interest of the party to affirm the victory of Senator Hope Uzodinma as the governorship candidate of the party to, ensure overall victory during the 2019 general elections in Imo State.
“Our supporters and aspirants for the other elective positions will neither participate nor accept the result of a repeat governorship primary election in Imo State.
“Such will create chaos and violence in the peace-loving state and deny APC the chances of inexpensive victory during the 2019 elections.” The aspirants further expressed commitment to the electoral success of APC in 2019, while pleading that “the National leadership should call Gov. Rocha’s Okorocha to order.
“Any disposition to thuggery and brigandage is the greatest threat to the peace and security of the state and may jeopardise the chances of the party in the forthcoming election. “We affirm that the electoral Committee led by Alhaji Ahmed Gulak was in Owerri for the exercise and actually collated results from the various wards and local governments, which culminated in the final state result signed, released and issued to our respective agents by the chairman accordingly.
“As the real stakeholders, we affirm that Sen. Hope Uzodinma won the governorship primary election and as loyal party members and democrats, we accept the result in good faith as the wish of the majority of our party members.”
The aspirants further disclosed that they, through Sen. Hope Uzodinma, had unanimously obtained an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the All Progressives Congress(APC) from conducting a fresh gubernatorial primary in the State.
The order, according to them, also restrains the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from monitoring any fresh primaries in Imo. The APC and INEC were asked to stay action on any repeat primaries pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit. They disclosed that the order had been duly served on INEC and the APC. The APC had cleared 10 aspirants to run for the Imo State Governorship primary election.
Meanwhile, the list of the aspirants that endorsed Sen. Hope Uzodinma as winner of the primary election are Prince Eze Madumere and Sir Jude Ejiogu, Air Commodore Peter Gbujie (rtd), Mr Eche George and Dr Chris Nlemoha. The party had declared that the result submitted by Gulak electoral committee was fake, while Gulak insisted that the result submitted was authentic.
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