APGA DENIES ADOPTING CHIME, ONWUEGBU

By NBF News
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The All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, yesterday in Enugu said it has no plans to adopt either Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State or Anayo Onwuegbu who are in court over the Enugu PDP guber ticket, as the party's governorship candidate in the April elections.

Addressing a joint press conference in Enugu both the State chairman, Chief Okechukwu Nkoloagu and the guber candidate Mr. Obinna Obiegue dismissed the speculations which were fueled by the omission of APGA list from the list of successful candidates released by INEC last Monday.

Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Mr. Chukwudi Achife also described the report as the handiwork of desperate political mischief makers; 'the same who are doing everything possible to prevent the governor from being the standard bearer of the PDP in the Enugu guber polls.

'This gambit will fail like all others before it; Governor Chime is and will remain a PDP member and he will run in this election as the candidate of the PDP.' APGA candidate, Obiegue, himself said he had never met with the governor, 'I never discussed with him about selling the ticket, and my alleged entry into APGA; I have never seen an emissary from him, so I found it difficult to understand where that is coming from I just think it is a media hype, it is from the media and where they conjure that from, I do not know.

'I don't see anything that will make me not to running this election; I am for election and I am sure we are going to win this election; the issue of stepping down is not one of the issues I can consider, Moreover, the governor does not happen to be a member of APGA, so I don't see him coming to ask for the ticket; but even if he does that, I do not see myself conceding the guber ticket to him. I have to run with that ticket and I am not conceding it to anybody.'

'I am doing my own thing just like every other person is doing his own thing; we have jingles on the radio, and we are doing our consultations; every other person is doing consultations right now, I have not seen mass mobilization of the people, I have not seen rallies anywhere, so what others are doing we are doing but I do not know why our own is attracting much attention maybe because some people are alleging that APGA ticket has been sold to the PDP or that I have been holding forth for somebody; but I want to tell you that I am not holding forth for anybody.'

'The story of the offer of money, I have heard that severally and I have always said that I don't want to get myself involved in all that; I don't want to discuss that issue; yes money has been offered and I just want to leave it there, I don't want to expatiate on it; I don't want to elaborate; money has been offered and I said I am not for sell.'

On the omission of APGA from the list of candidates published by INEC, the Chairman Okechukwu Nkoloagu said 'when I heard of it I went to the REC and he referred the matter to the INEC legal officer in Enugu where it was discovered that there was a mix up; and by the next morning they pasted it so there is no problem with that.

He however expressed concern that the list should not have been pasted when INEC discovered that it was not complete; 'because having pasted it, the news went into the media and it affected us; now were sending out announcements to tell our supporters that there is no cause for alarm.'