EditorA Federal High Court in Awka, this morning, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the name of Valentine Ozigbo as the Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the November 6 Anambra State Governorship Election.
It would be recalled that a Federal High Court in Abuja had on Thursday July 15th restrained Nigeria’s electoral umpire, INEC, from publishing the name of the PDP candidate, Mr. Valentine Ozigbo, in a suit which on Friday July 16th was withdrawn paving the way for a fresh order to INEC to publish the name of the PDP Candidate on its list of candidates for the election.
INEC omitted Ozigbo’s name in the list it published on Friday, citing obedience to court order as the reason for their action.
Ozigbo and that of Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) were the high profile names missing in the INEC list of contestants for the November election published on Friday. While there was no name published for PDP, Chukwuma Umeoji’s name was published for APGA at the expense of Suludo.
Following his exclusion from the list, Ozigbo had assured the people of Anambra State that he is still in the governorship race.
His campaign office had in a statement signed by the Media Adviser, Aziza Uko on Saturday, noted that the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) reliance on a court order in not publishing the name of the PDP candidate, Mr Valentine Ozigbo, was “a matter of procedure and temporary”.
Uko had 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.”
Ozibo emerged as the PDP flag-bearer for the Anambra State guber election after polling the majority of votes at the party’s primary election held on Saturday, June 26, 2021, at the Prof Dora Akunyili Women Development Center, Awka.
He received his certificate of return from the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, on Wednesday, June 30, 2021, after his victory was certified by the party’s National Working Committee.
Ozigbo emerged as the frontrunner for the party’s ticket after running a unique grassroots campaign for almost two years in the run-up to the primary election. His comprehensive consultations took him to the 21 local government areas of the state, all of which he visited at least 7 seven times.
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