Group warns Anambra against Ekwunife, APC ‘ranting’
The Forum for Positive Change, a civil rights advocacy group has warned ndi Anambra against complacency as they prepare to cast their votes in the Supplementary Elections scheduled in some parts of the state on November 30, 2013, and called on the citizens to be wary of the unfolding political scenario where anarchists and their sponsors are poised to plunge the state into turmoil once again rather than accept the outcome of the gubernatorial polls of November 16, 2013.
Speaking to newsmen in Awka, Thursday on the recent governorship election and the recent moves by Iyom Uche Ekwunife to halt APGA's Chief Willie Obiano's impending victory in the coming Supplementary Election through the courts, the President of the group, Barrister Okechukwu Chinweze warned that if the people of the state were not vigilant, some enemies of the people would use the opportunity of the Supplementary Election to create an anarchic situation in order to discredit the electoral process and seek a backdoor entrance to governance.
'But we want to remind them that if the authorities are willing to indulge them, we shall mobilize our people to halt their nefarious plan to turn Anambra State into a banana republic. We have seen through their smokescreen and our people are now fully aware that APC does not mean well for Anambra State,' Chinweze observed, further warning that his group would resist continuing attempt to upturn the sovereign will of the people as expressed in the voting patterns that emerged in the November 16, 2013 election.
The civil rights advocate expressed shock at the misleading reports in the Lagos media alleging that the November 16th poll was riddled with flaws and should be cancelled and countered the reports by reminding Nigerians that international and local observers were unanimous in their verdict that the election was peaceful and free in 20 out of Anambra's 21 local government areas.
'How can anyone who is not a mischief-maker call for an outright cancellation of such a peaceful election where there was no single loss of life, no snatching of ballot boxes, no stuffing of ballot boxes and no incident of any kind in a country where we have seen scores of people lose their lives over a tussle for a mere council election? The position of APC and their fellow losers is extremely laughable and we are sad that INEC has continued to listen to them. What did INEC and the authorities really expect them to say? Applaud the electoral process after losing so woefully to APGA and Obiano whom they hold in low esteem?' he queried.
According to him, the subjective coverage of the Anambra poll in the Lagos media has given an erroneous impression that Anambra was in chaos to those who do not live within the state. 'I was horrified when I arrived Lagos a few days ago to see my friends faces furrowed with concern when they asked me about the situation going on in Anambra State. It is sad that a section of the media has lost its objectivity in pursuit of an extremely narrow interest, creating a seriously flawed impression about Anambra State to the outside world. This lie shall not stand!' Chinweze declared.
Speaking further, he said: 'You would not be blamed if after getting a daily dosage of frenzied media reports discrediting the gubernatorial polls and results, you start wondering if it is the same election you had observed, or get the impression that life is at a standstill in Anambra State as a result of the cancellation and rescheduling of polls in Idemili North Local Government Area and other units around the State. It is really sad that Nigerians have continued to be misinformed on the true situation in Anambra State.'
The civil rights activist also expressed horror at the Hon. Uche Ekwunife's recent legal action seeking the truncation of Chief Willie Obiano's impending electoral victory on a trumped up charge of double registration which had long been thrown out for want of merit by a competent court of law.
'The Forum for Positive Change is mortified by Ekwunife's treacherous volte face. We cannot reconcile the picture of Uche Ekwunife that we saw at the Onitsha rally, campaigning for Obiano with the story making the rounds in the media. If it is true that she has gone to court, it is obvious she has lent herself to be used by the brutally immoral opposition. May be we had overrated her,' Chinweze said with a chuckle.
According to him, the group was still investigating Hon. Ekwunife's current sponsors. 'If we establish the fact that she is in cahoots with the APC in this treacherous move, Uche Ekwunife should forget her plans of ever holding an elective post in Anambra State,' he warned.
He drew attention to the vehemence with which the All Progressive Congress (APC) and its army of propagandists are pursuing the outright cancellation agenda after INEC dithered in announcing the results which had shown a clear mandate rightly given to Chief Willie Obiano of APGA who won convincingly in eighteen of the twenty-one LGAs of Anambra State.
Barrister Chinweze said that the strident campaign suggests that the APC must have been sold a dummy by its candidate, Senator Chris Ngige, whose false sense of popularity is known to discerning Anambrarians who were never in doubt about his plan to hand the state over to its potential external conquerors.
He further explained that apart from few blots, which are not unusual in any election, voting went peacefully and without much hitch once it commenced. Unfortunately, the outcome could not dissuade the candidates of APC, Labour and the PDP from banding together to create unnecessary uproar and peddle baseless allegations just to discredit the process. He recalled Senator Ngige's boost: 'I have done it before and will do it again, wondering if he would set the State on fire just like he did when he was governor and when most government properties were burnt down under his watch.