Ebonyi APC Holds Primaries Today To Elect Umahi's Successor As Prof. Ani Goes Unopposed
From Oko OMAKA (Abakaliki)
Ebonyi state chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) today holds its primaries to elect the next senatorial candidate for Ebonyi South Senatorial district, THE BEAGLE NEWS can authoritatively report.
Though two aspirants, Prof. Anthony Ani and Mrs. Ann Agom Eze are said to have bought the forms to run for the seat, sources closed to the party Secretariat said only Prof. Ani returned his form while Agom did not return nor did she appear for screening, an indication that Prof. Ani is likely to emerge unopposed.
Recall that there was a declaration of vacancy of Ebonyi South seat in the Senate following the resignation of Sen. David Umahi from the Senate after he was appointed a minister.
Findings by The Beagle News revealed that Prof Ani emerged as the consensus candidate of APC after stakeholders in one of their meetings zoned the slot to Onicha, where Ani hails from.
Briefing newsmen in Abakaliki ahead of the primaries, the APC state chairman, Chief Stanley Okoro Emegha, said the party will ensure free, fair, and credible Primaries today to produce the best candidate ahead of the February 3rd By-election in Ebonyi South Senatorial zone.
Emegha informed that necessary logistics are on the ground to ensure a smooth and peaceful process by the provision of the INEC guidelines, maintaining that all aspirants will be given a level playing field during the conduct.
According to him, all relevant stakeholders including the electoral umpire, and security agencies have been properly notified to ensure a hitch-free and credible primary election.
He said: "The party is conducting a fresh primary election that will usher in the emergence of an APC candidate for Ebonyi South senatorial zone who will fill the vacant position created by the appointment of Senator David Umahi as Minister of Works.
“It’s a fresh election. The Screening/ Congress Committee and the Appeal Committee are already in Ebonyi to handle issues revolving around the Congress election.
“We are confident that the security agencies will do their job. We have agreed as a Party but we cannot deny anyone the right to contest election. The SWC agreed that the next Senator of APC should come from Onicha LGA. it was in the interest of equity and balance.
The five elected delegates will in turn elect the candidate of the party for the Ebonyi South zone.
"We had the election of a delegate yesterday where we elected five delegates each from the electoral wards across the five LGAs who will, in turn, elect our candidate at Afikpo today”.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the 7-man Screening and Special Congress Committee, Mr. Smart Iheazor, explained that two members of the party in the state purchased the form for the election but only one of them returned the form and also showed up for screening and has been successfully screened and cleared to contest for the primary election.
