The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State has explained why it rejected the moves by the former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu to “hijack” the party’s governorship ticket.
The state chairman of the party, Chief Ugochukwu Agballah, who gave the explanation while briefing journalists at the zonal office of the party in Enugu on Sunday, said the party rejected the pressures mounted by Ekweremadu on the APC in Abuja to grab its ticket.
He, however, said such a move would never work, describing it as evil.
Agballah said: “Ekweremadu is a man I have great respect for. We have held discussions, on the need for him to come and join us as a member of the party, the same way I met other persons.
“I reached out to him before our primary, but he informed me in the presence of the Southeast chairman of our party, that we should give him our ticket for the governorship position.
“Even after our primary, he is still insisting that we should give him the ticket.
“And I’m baffled because his demand is repugnant to natural justice, at variance with the Electoral Act, which he is one of the makers.
“His demand is evil, ignoble, shows that a man does not change his colour.
“He is in court claiming that he was subverted during the PDP primary, but the same man is now running up and down, disturbing us up and down, mobilising Senators to prevail on our national chairman to subvert the Electoral Act.
“The Electoral Act is clear, nobody can give him a waiver to undo what we did.
“Uche Nnaji is our candidate; he emerged after a primary election duly observed by INEC.
“We want Ekweremadu to be our member but we cannot give him our governorship ticket. These are some of the things that give a bad image to Nigerian politicians.
“Ekweremadu wants to be the governor but the position was not even zoned to Enugu West, but he wants to take Enugu East turn. Now, he wants to come and subvert APC, where I am the chairman. And I ask, what kind of a man is Ekweremadu, who is this Ekweremadu?
“He is not a member of APC and he is demanding our ticket, is he now blinded by ambition? If I see him in my party, I will treat him like a mad man.
“His demands portend grave danger to our political system. I will not allow desperados to come and scatter what we have laboured for.
“Ekweremadu has been in power for 24 years, he should support others. It must not be about him all the time. We are not operating absolute monarchy.”
