By Emma Ogbuehi
Even with the exclusion of its principal from the list of candidate cleared for the November 6 Anambra governorship election, the Valentine Ozigbo Campaign Organisation, has assured the people of Anambra State that Valentine Ozigbo, is still in the race, insisting that he remains the candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In a statement on Saturday, Aziza Uko, the Media Adviser of the Valentine Ozigbo Campaign Organisation, noted that the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) reliance on a court order in not publishing the name of Ozigbo, was “a matter of procedure and temporary”.
INEC, had on Friday, published the list and personal particulars of candidates and their running mates for the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State.
In the list, the Commission skipped Ozigbo, and dropped Prof Charles Soludo of the AWll Progressives Grand WAlliance (APGA). In place of Soludo, INEC named Chukwuma Michael Umeoji as the substantive candidate of APGA.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, explained that the Commission took the action in obedience to orders of court. He said: “The Commission also considered and took cognizance of the judgments/court orders served on it in relation to the primaries of the political parties and other processes leading to the election”.
Uko has however assured that the PDP has mobilised men and resources to ensure the said order is vacated to enable INEC update its records with Ozigbo as the PDP gubernatorial candidate for Anambra State as has been forwarded to the national electoral body by the party.
“It is on record that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had the most credible party primary ahead of the November 6 Anambra State governorship election.
“Most of the aspirants, present at the primary venue on June 26, 2021, 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.
“We confirm that the PDP has forwarded only the name of Valentine Ozigbo 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,” the statement read.
Uko added that Ozigbo appreciates the interests of his teeming supporters and Ndi Anambra as a whole over the current situation and calls on them to keep faith with the process as all is under control.
She assured that “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.”