GOV ORJI ON SHAKY GROUND - EMENIKE
Governor Theodore Orji
Parallel Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate in Abia State, High Chief Ikechi Emenike, says that Governor Theodore Orji, who was recently pronounced by the High Court as the authentic candidate of the party to next month's election is still standing on shaky ground. Emenike said this is because he has yet to give up on his desire to fly the PDP's flag and has since filed notice of appeal on the verdict.
He stated this in his country home in an interaction with Daily Sun, the first since he came back from Abuja where he had gone to pursue his case. Emenike had earlier addressed thousands of supporters who thronged the airport to receive him on his return since after the court ruling.
Emenike said his case is further enhanced by the fact that Governor Orji allegedly did not have a PDP membership card when he was asked to produce one at the court in Abuja.
He insisted that the Abuja High Court which gave a favourable verdict to the governor erredfrom every angle and that it would not stand as he is hopeful it would be overturned at appeal.
According to him, the struggle for the soul of PDP in the state had just started as he was determined to pursue the matter to the Supreme Court.
'There is no way you can ask somebody who did not have a party card to be candidate of a party .The Abuja judgment is very faulty from every angle. It will not stand. There is no way you can ask somebody who is a party member, who does not have party card to be. He has no party card. They know that they are standing on a shaky foundation, Emenike said .
He noted that 'the judgment is conspicuous on what it did not touch, and that is the ground of appeal. Even if they win at the appeal, we will go to the Supreme Court. This is the beginning of the matter. Ultimately, the truth will surface because justice will prevail,' he intoned.
Emenike said that before he embarked on his governorship ambition, he asked his lawyer to write the Independent National Electoral Commission[INEC] to confirm (which the commission confirmed to the Ben Etie-led Group) who was the authentic PDP faction leader in the state. Based on the INEC's advice, he bought forms from the said authentic list of the Abia PDP leadership which he said was the one that returned him.
He explained further that INEC position was communicated in writing and that he would make the letter available at the appropriate time.
For the above reasons, Emenike stated that the battle is far from being over. 'This is just the beginning as we are going to follow it to a logical conclusion.
'They know that they are standing on a shaky foundation. We are very determined and we are very certain that if the judicial system is still what we know, we will triumph. I have gotten to the level that I can't be intimidated.
They are still destroying my posters and billboards. The President like all others is against violence and I hope he will like us to resolve it legitimately'.
On whether the PDP reconciliation committee headed by Senator Ike Nwachukwu has visited him, Emenike said there there was nothing like PDP reconciliation committee, but that a commtiittee was set up by Governor Orji which he tagged: 'a wing of his T.A Orji's campaign members. If there is anything like reconciliation committee ,it was set up by all of them sitting together and made it clear that he did not want to see the committee members or their leaders.
On whether he has any pact with former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, Emenike laughed and dismissed same with a wave of the hand, adding that he has no quarrels with the former governor, but that there is no pact.
'In the last four years, I have met Kalu only once in a flight. That was during the Anambra elections last year. We were going to Anambra State. He was going to support his candidate and I was going to support my own candidate, Soludo. I don't have any problem meeting with Orji. That is to say that if I meet Orji or Akomas or Ufomba or Ikonne, we will greet. We are not enemies. But I have not had any meeting with Kalu, and there is no reason for that unless he joins PDP'.
He assured his supporters, that despite what the eyes can see now , they should still vote PDP, whether his picture is there or not.
'We know where to collect our victory. The only disservice you will do to this state is not to vote PDP in the forthcoming election because if you do that, you would have made God who asked us to come out a liar. But I want to assure you that God is too truthful to support a lie. If we had been pursuing an unjust cause, he would have departed from us since, but you can see that God is still with us,' Emenike said.
He said that 'ultimately, truth would overshadow falsehood as every evil has its expiry date. We can do things right in this 21st Century and we should be part of things that are done rightly', he said He noted that even though he was being subjected to malicious attacks by agents of the state government, who have also been defacing and removing his campaign posters and billboards, that he is wondering why a people who want to govern others should descend so low in a contest meant to bring out the best to serve the people.
He noted that he was not given to bread-and-butter politics and that if people are contesting for the same seat, it doesn't make them enemies.
Efforts made by Daily Sun to speak to the Special Adviser to the Governor on Print Media, Mr Ugochukwu Emezuo, was unfruitful as he refused to pick his phone after it rang five times.