David-Chyddy Eleke
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State, Valentine Ozigbo, yesterday assured his supporters that the exclusion of his name from the list of governorship candidates was only temporary.
Ozigbo, the immediate past President and Chief Executive Officer of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria plc, disclosed that he had started reaching out to the PDP governorship aspirants that were aggrieved, noting that his exclusion would be reversed very soon.
He gave this assurance in a statement his media adviser, Mr. Aziza Uko issued yesterday, noting that the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to publish his name as a candidate in the race was “a matter of procedure.”
Ozigbo emerged the candidate of the party in a primary election conducted on June 26, while a faction of the main opposition party elected Dr Ugochukwu Uba as its candidate for the poll, thus necessitating litigation about the exercise.
Consequently, INEC had released the list of candidates for the governorship election scheduled to hold on November 6, excluding Ozigbo as the PDP candidate and Prof. Chukwuma Soludo as the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Despite the decision of the electoral umpire, Ozigbo said he was still in the governorship race and that the exclusion of his name was only a temporary setback.
He said the PDP had mobilised men and resources to ensure that the order was vacated to enable INEC to update its records with the name of Ozigbo as the gubernatorial candidate for the state as was earlier forwarded to the electoral body by the PDP.
He said: “It is on record that the Peoples Democratic Party had the most credible party primary ahead of the November 6 Anambra State governorship election.
“Most aspirants, present at the primary venue on June 26 spontaneously congratulated Ozigbo once he was declared the winner. They went on to formally publish their congratulations to him as the elected candidate of the party.
“The development, in which aspirants congratulate the elected candidate, is novel in Anambra party politics. It attests to the acceptability of the candidacy of Valentine Ozigbo and the transparency of the process from which he emerged.”
Ozigbo, therefore, acknowledged that he had started reaching out in dialogue to few aspirants who feel aggrieved, saying the PDP would emerge as one family under one big umbrella at the end of the process.
He said the PDP had forwarded his name “as its candidate for the 2021 Governorship Election to INEC. We also confirm that he had submitted his credentials to INEC and that all the procedural necessities that should follow before INEC’s publication of the list of candidates had been completed.”
Ozigbo commended his teeming supporters and Ndi Anambra as a whole over the current situation, challenging them to keep faith with the process as all is under control.
He said: “The issues will be resolved in no time and open the space for a one-of-a-kind campaign on issues that were top on the minds of Ndi Anambra with regards to their yearnings for transformational leadership that will usher in a new era of peace and progress to the state.”
