Victor Ezeja
Professor Arthur Chukwu of the Nigerian Law School has appealed to voters in Enugu State to continue to vote overwhelmingly for the Labour Party (LP) in memory of his elder brother, Chief Oyibo Chukwu, who was assassinated three days to the presidential and National Assembly elections.
The older Chukwu, a former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) chairman in Enugu State, was the LP candidate in the Enugu East senatorial election.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelHe was killed alongside his personal assistant, Sunday Igwesi in Amechi, Enugu South Local Government Area of state.
He was returning from a family meeting in his hometown of Amurri in Nkanu West Local Government Area when he met his gruesome death.
The election was cancelled and rescheduled to hold alongside the governorship and State Assembly polls.
“A vote for the Labour Party is a vote for change in Enugu State in particular and Nigeria in general”, Professor Chukwu, who is the head of the Department of Professional Ethics and Skills at the Nigerian Law School, Yola Campus in Adamawa State, told journalists on the phone today.
“Even though I am not a politician, it is important to make this call on the Enugu people because some politicians without moral scruples in Enugu who have been diametrically opposed to everything Peter Obi of the Labour Party stands for are telling people to vote for them in this week’s election because they falsely claim to have supported the party during the presidential vote.
“They include members of the Ebeano cult of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whom my brother told a number of people were planning to assassinate him even up to the morning he was murdered on Wednesday, February 22, alongside his faithful PA, and their bodies and vehicle burnt beyond recognition.”
The law professor said a vote for any other party would mean that Chief Oyibo died in vain, “even though every person knows that he was killed for fighting for social justice, as the immediate past Ohaneze Ndigbo president general, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, a former Minister of Information, said last Wednesday at the memorial service.”
Assassins and those notorious for violent politics in the state, he continued, should not be rewarded with high public office.
He expressed optimism that his younger brother, Sir Kelvin Chukwu, an entrepreneur who studied both Mass Communication and law and will fly the LP flag in the Enugu East senatorial race on March 18, would win an overwhelming majority of the votes.
“A knight of St John International, Kelvin is humble, simple, accessible, focused and committed to the public good”, he said, adding, “he will make a very good senator.”
Professor Chukwu wondered why former Governor Chimaraoke Nnamani “is claiming to still be in the race for the Enugu East senatorial district when the PDP has not reversed his expulsion for anti-party activities by campaigning unabashedly for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The Constitution provides that only candidates sponsored by political parties can contest in any election, and the PDP national leadership has written two letters to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) stating in black and white that it has no candidate in the senatorial election.
“Therefore, any vote for the PDP in the Enugu East senatorial race is a wasted vote,” Prof Chukwu submitted.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
