Against the backdrop of the dropping of the name of the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo in favour of Hon. Chukwuma Umeorji by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the November 6, 2021 Governorship election in Anambra State, a chieftain of Cee Cee Soludo Campaign Organization, Mr. Joe Anatune has called on their supporters and indeed all Anambra people not to be deterred by the Jigawa State Court order.
Anatune who made this call in a statement in Awka, the Anambra State capital on Friday disclosed that the Chukwuma Soludo Campaign had been briefed on a publication by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) where Honourable Chukwuma Umeorji had been published as the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the November 6, 2021, gubernatorial election in Anambra State.
He explained that the INEC publication was based on a judgment by a High Court in Jigawa State, adding that the electoral body sensibly wrote that its inclusion of Umeorji as a candidate in the election was “By Judgment”.
He, however,noted that Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo would participate in the governorship election as the APGA candidate insisting that his nomination was strictly in line with the Electoral Law and INEC guidelines.
According to him, INEC observed the APGA Congress on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, where he (Soludo) was nominated after winning 93.4 per cent of the valid votes cast in a free, fair and transparent manner which was broadcast live on national television networks as part of deepening the democratic process in Nigeria.
His words, “Our millions of supporters in Anambra State and elsewhere in the world are advised not to be dispirited by the publication seriously. Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo will participate in the governorship election as the APGA candidate. His nomination was strictly in line with the Electoral Law and INEC guidelines. INEC observed the APGA Congress on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, where he was nominated after winning 93.4 per cent of the valid votes cast in a free, fair and transparent manner which was broadcast live on national television networks as part of deepening the democratic process in Nigeria.”
He further informed that their team of dedicated and competent legal experts had studied the judgment and was confident of overturning it effortlessly as according to him, “the party is at liberty to nominate the rightful candidate so long as due process is followed.”
“Soludo’s nomination followed due process religiously. Therefore, there is no need for Anambra people and all lovers of progress in Nigeria to be worried about the judgment. The judgment will be set aside the way orders by Mr. Justice Stanley Nnaji of the Enugu State High Court and Mr. Justice Egbo Egbo of the Federal High Court in Abuja were thrown out when they embarrassed the legal profession with their decisions on the struggle for the governorship of Anambra State a few years after the inception of democratic governance in 1999. Members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the state were then toying with the destiny of a great state.
“Millions of Ndi Anambra are understandably shocked that there are still desperate politicians in the state who want to reenact the years which the locusts consumed. They are determined to go to any and every length to acquire power for its own sake. We thought that the state had passed the stage where some of its politicians were moving from one end of the country to the other in the dead of the night in search of judicial orders to impose themselves on the people as their rulers, not leaders.
“Our supporters and indeed all Anambra people, who have been waiting patiently for Soludo’s leadership of the state, are advised not to be deterred by the Jigawa State Court order. They should rather remain supremely confident of not only Soludo’s participation in the November 6 gubernatorial vote but also his triumph in the polls with a big margin which will lead to a new era in our state for the benefit of all. The campaign for Soludo’s emergence as the successor to Governor Willie Obiano has become a movement of the people through and through. The movement will come to fruition”, Anatune submitted.
Photo: Former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.
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