Ahead of the November 4 Local Government election in Enugu State, the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Friday declared that it has absolute lack of confidence on the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission, ENSIEC.
APC chairman in Enugu State, Dr. Ben Nwoye made the assertion alongide chairman of the party’s screening committee for the council election, Hon. Hyacinth Ngwu.
Ngwu had at the media parley unveiled the party’s plan and readiness for the election, with a warning that it would resist any attempt by the ENSIEC to disqualify any of the party’s candidates.
He said his committee would do a thorough job during the screening exercise, tomorrow, Saturday, in line with the relevant electoral laws and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.
Ngwu maintained that according to the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act, the ENSIEC lacked the power to disqualify and candidate presented to it by a political party.
“What the law requires the ENSIEC to do is to publish the name of the candidates within 7 days. Only the court can give order for the disqualification of a candidate.
“We are saying this because of what happened in Enugu State in the past when our candidate were disqualified without giving them any paper to show why they were disqualified. We are not going to accept such again”, he stressed.
He equally hinted that the APC would field candidates for the 17 chairmanship positions and the 260 wards in the State.
Ngwu added that “we in the APC believe in law and order, that’s why we are complying with every democratic step to get our candidates for the election. We also have a sub-committee that will screen the councilorship aspirants.”
Speaking in the same vein, Nwoye alleged that all the members of the ENSIEC were card carrying members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
According to Nwoye, “we have absolute confidence and the reason is clear. What we have is a situation where all the members of ENSIEC, the chairman, the commissioners, down to the last person are all card-carring members of the PDP.
“They are already biased; we have not heard that any of them tore his membership card of the PDP. They all attend PDP stakeholders meeting where they decide on the party’s candidates.
“So, how can they say that they will be fair? We can’t have confidence in people selected by their masters. All they did was to appoint their political associates.
“But we must warn that if they do things untoward, we will approach the law, the police, the EFCC; there is already a prima-facie evidence against them.
“However, we will not back down; we are going into this election prepared and we can’t be intimidated out of the race.”
Nwoye had also earlier lambasted the PDP for lack of internal democracy in its process of choosing candidates for the election.
He said, “PDP is busy with their selection process; they have already hoodwinked the general public that they will do primary election.
“How can you do so when there is no democratic process? We are fulfilling the law as opposed to what the PDP is doing.
“That’s why democrats are defecting in their numbers. The other day, a former secretary of Isi-Uzo Local Government Area defected with over 3000 others.”
Other members of the screening committee present at the briefing included the secretary, Chief Basil Chukwu, Dr. Bony Ene, Mr. Eze Chibueze, Mrs. Ndidiamaka Onuma and Barr. Vin Eneh.
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