Member representing Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency of Abia State, Rep. Sam Onuigbo has maintained that he is the authentic candidate of All Progressives Congress APC for Abia Central Senatorial District, insisting that he won the primaries of the party.
The APC had however substituted his name with that of Hon. Emeka Atuma under controversial circumstances.
Reacting to the development, Hon. Onuigbo in a chat with newsmen recently said the substitution of his name will not hold water as he has every evidence to authenticate his claim that he won the primaries.
He expressed dismay that someone, who, according to him, did not buy Senatorial form, nor participated in the Senatorial Primary Election could mysteriously emerge a candidate.
“It is therefore so strange to us that someone who did not buy nomination forms for the Senate, never participated in the preliminary processes, that is completing your form, submitting, participating in screening and being cleared by the party, from nowhere had his name listed to substitute my own name. It is one of the strangest things I have ever seen. It is so shocking”
He further stated, “And, as a confirmation of the fact that I was the candidate of the party, they issued me with Form EC9, which is from INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission), which is given to only successful candidates.
“They asked me to complete that form and I completed the form and returned it on June 14. And, after returning it, it was acknowledged by one of the officers there, Emmanuel or so. After that, I was required to sign in a column where my name was already indicated as the APC candidate for Abia Central Senatorial District, where, after signing, you were also required to put in your phone number.
“On that document, my name was listed as number one, Senator Orji Uzo Kalu was number two. He signed before me and put his phone number, then Blessing Nwagba and I also signed and put our phone numbers. So, I believed everything was going well, until June 16th, when they issued the list of candidates for the election to represent APC and my name was missing,” Rep Onuigbo explained.
Onuigbo further stated that INEC has already issued him with the Certified True Copy of his result which is a further and concrete evidence that he won the primary election and therefore the APC CANDIDATE for Abia Central Senatorial District.
According to him, the Electoral Act, 2022 makes it difficult for his name or that of any candidate who emerged through primary to be substituted for another person who ab-initio was never part of the Senatorial Primary Election for Abia Central Senatorial Ticket or elsewhere.
He said any attempt to foist candidates from backdoor will amount to political gangsterism, which the Electoral Act 2022 does not recognise.
“This is pure political gangsterism. They hijack a position that they never contested for and then, after the election, they now sit in their office and use resources that they are getting from their loots, from their fraudulent conduct to now be fighting the genuine individual. So, it is important for this to be stopped before the general election and that is why we did it”, referring to the enactment of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Rep Onuigbo, who represented the South East Geopolitical Zone in the Joint Technical Committee of the National Assembly that put together the Electoral Act 2022 stated that there are many sections of the Act that were enacted to cure this kind of mischief. The Joint Technical Committee was chaired by Sen Kabiru Gaya and Co-chaired by Hon Aisha Dukku. Other members were Sen Ekweremadu, Sen Shekarau, Sen Bamidele, and Sen Yau. Other members were Hon Magaji, Hon Bob, Hon Mohammed Ari and Hon Adigun. In the Committee, we worked with INEC, Ministry of Justice and the Civil Society Organisation.
According to the Federal Legislator, these are Sections 29(1), 31 and 33. Rep Onuigbo revealed that Section 84(1) states that “a political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under this Act shall hold primaries for aspirants to all elective positions which shall be monitored by the Commission.” Commission in this case means INEC.
Onuigbo further declared that Section 84(13) states that, “where a political party fails to comply with the provisions of this Act in the conduct of its primaries, its candidate for election shall not be included in the election for the particular position in issue.” Onuigbo said laws are enacted or amended to improve activities of human beings or citizens who make up the society in order to achieve peace, development and good governance and not to return to a state of nature or political banditry. He concluded by stating that the nation is moving forward and not not backwards.
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