A former member of the Senate, Mrs. Uche
Ekwunife, says her records will enable her to reclaim her mandate to
represent Anambra-Central senatorial district on the platform of the All
Progressives Congress.
It will be recalled that Ekwunife, who
was inaugurated as a senator in June, 2015 had her election nullified by
a Court of Appeal in Enugu on December 6, 2015, on the grounds of
irregularities.
The court had ordered a fresh election
in the senatorial district within 90 days. Ekwunife, however, defected
from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC last Friday.
Speaking with our correspondent in a
phone interview on Monday, Ekwunife said she was not desperate to be a
senator as being claimed in some quarters, adding that her defection was
simply based on principles.
Ekwunife said, “I’m traumatised by the
appellate court’s ruling which nullified my election into the Senate.
The same primary that produced me as the senatorial candidate of the PDP
was the same primary that produced other senators. The court ruling was
the highest level of injustice I have ever witnessed in my life.
However, I have taken the court’s decision in good faith. My good
records will speak for me in the APC as I work to reclaim my mandate to
serve my people.
“I defected to the APC because the PDP
postponed its state congress and primary indefinitely, pending the
release of the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa
Metuh. The APC primary will be transparent, free and fair. However, if I
don’t emerge as the APC candidate, I will support whoever the party
eventually picks. I am not desperate to be in the senate.”
According to her, a recent publication
by the PDP in which the party indefinitely suspended its state
congresses and primary scheduled for the 9th of January, 2016, showed
that the party was not ready to present any candidate for the rerun
election.
On the legality of her emergence as the
candidate of the APC, she said the Electoral Act permits the
substitution of candidates before an election in the case of sudden
death or the resignation of a candidate.
It will be recalled that Ekwunife contested against Chris Ngige of the APC in the senatorial district last year.
With the appointment of Ngige as the
Minister of Labour and Productivity, the APC may, however, have to
conduct another primary, if the minister drops his senatorial ambition.
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