Umeh: I’ll Sack Ekwunife From Senate Again

 

Senator Victor Umeh, who represented Anambra Central senatorial zone in the eighth Senate on Monday said he would sack his successor, Senator Uche Ekwunife, who will be sworn in on Tuesday as the senator representing the zone.

Umeh in an interview with journalists in Awka said he would retrieve from Ekwunife his mandate which he said was wrongly awarded to her by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Umeh, who is in court with Ekwunife, said: “Ekwunife did not emerge from any party primaries, therefore, she is not eligible to contest in the election, and also, there were incidences of over-voting in some polling units while election did not take place in others.”

He recalled that in 2015, he went to the tribunal on the same issue and even though the lower tribunal did not uphold the argument, the Appeal Court did.

According to Umeh, “I am an advocate of the rule of law and strict adherence to the rules governing the country. What I have always challenged in my life is disobedience to the laws and rules of this country.

"I am in court to tell it that Ekwunife did not emerge from any primary process. That means she was not eligible to take part in the election; she wasn't a candidate. That was my last tribunal action in 2015 and the Court of Appeal upheld my plea."

He said subsequent rulings on election matters tallied with the Court of Appeal decision, including the landmark Supreme Court judgment on Zamfara State assembly and governorship election in which all the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates were sacked.

Umeh explained further that "Ekwunife's case is even worse because when primaries were conducted, she was in APC where she took part in the primary and her name was submitted to INEC.

“She filled INEC forms, and INEC on October 25, 2018, officially declared her as the candidate of APC. One month after, she purportedly withdrew her nomination from APC and then became candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and she didn't say she took part in PDP primaries.

“Apart from these, election did not take place in some parts of Anambra Central senatorial district, yet INEC declared results in same areas. In others, there were incidences of over-voting in several places where the number of votes cast were more than the number of voters shown from result sheets.”

He dismissed Ekwunife as not being his match, saying the truth was that his contest during the election was against the former Governor of Anambra State and vice presidential candidate of PDP, Mr. Peter Obi, adding that he couldn’t have been defeated by Ekwunife.