Again, APC postpones its guber primaries in Abia
. As Emenike faction declares him winner
By Steve Oko
For the second time in two days, the All Progressive Congress (APC), has postponed its governorship primaries in Abia State.
The exercise originally billed for Sunday but later postponed to Monday will now hold tomorrow (Tuesday).
Chairman of the Congress Committe and former Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. David Doha, who announced the postponement Monday in Umuahia gave late arrival of the committee members as reason for the postponement.
He said members of the committee were supposed to be in the state on Sunday for the exercise as earlier scheduled but could not make it due to logistics problems at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja.
The Chairman who was flanked by other members of the committee said they had met with all the aspirants and other critical stakeholders at the party’s office in Umuahia, and unanimously agreed to shift the exercise to Tuesday.
He said they adopted direct primaries that would be conducted simultaneously in all the political wards in the state.
He assured of a transparent exercise that will give the people the opportunity to elect the most popular aspirant among the contenders.
His words : ” There will be proper voting because our party adopted direct primaries. We came with ballot papers and LGA party registers. We are ready for a transparent exercise “.
He said distribution of sensitive materials would commence by 6:00 am at the party secretariat Umuahia while accreditation of voters and voting will be by 7:30 /8:00 am for near and distant polling units.
The Chairman further said only properly identified members with the party’s ID card would be allowed to vote.
He therefore urged members of the party to remain peaceful “before, during and after the exercise”.
Other members of the Congress Committee include : Hon Nasiru Degiri from Gombe State, Secretary ; Ibrahim Gambo, Musa Shele, and Hajiya Muhammad.
All seven governorship aspirants except Ikechi Emenike were present at the meeting which was also attended by other aspirants for different categories as well as leaders of the party in Abia.
Some of the aspirants including Chief Friday Nwosu, and Uche Ogah expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the meeting.
The said they were confident the exercise would be free and fair .
Meanwhile the Chief Ikechi Emenike has been declared winner of the governorship primaries by the Dr. Emma Ndukwe -led faction of the party.
The Returning Officer for the exercise , Professor Okezie Abarikwu who declared the result at Uzuakoli Road party office of the faction said Ikechi polled a total of 274,133 votes.
According to the results, Dr. Uche Ogah came a distant second with 120 votes while Friday Nwosu came third with 110 votes.
Meanwhile APC Chairman, Donatus Nwankpa has dismissed the exercise as ” a mock primaries and exercise in futility “.
He said it was the Congress Committee sent from Abuja that had the powers to conduct the primaries.
Responding to a question on his feeling about the result announced by the Ndukwe -led faction, Ogah said it was a waste of energy.
He said APC was yet to organise the governorship primaries in Abia and wondered how the purported result was generated.
End.
Steve Oko, Publisher/C.E.O, WaWa News Global. For more information on advert placement and news coverage, contact us on: 08038725600, or via email stevemanofgod2000@yahoo.com; wawanewsglobal@gmail.com Always read WaWa News Global - Your most dependable online news platform for the latest breaking news in Nigeria. 
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