Amid the speculation that the minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, may contest the Anambra Central Senatorial rerun scheduled for January 13, 2018, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in the race, Chief Victor Umeh, has said he is ready to fight it out with the minister.
Umeh challenged Ngige to resign his appointment and join the race. Ngige was the candidate of the APC in the 2015 National Assembly election before he was appointed a minister.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Mrs Uche Ekwunife the winner of the poll but she was sacked by the Court of Appeal, Enugu division, following a petition brought before it by Umeh of APGA.
Litigation and counter litigation had trailed the election since then until last week when a court of Appeal, Abuja division ordered INEC to conduct the election within 90 days, excluding the PDP on whose instance the election was nullified.
Speaking on Sunday at Aguluezigbo, Anaocha Local Government Area of the State, Umeh, a former APGA national chairman, decried the activities of certain politicians who he accused of working tirelessly to deny the people of the district of a representation at the senate.
He urged INEC to ignore the antics of such politicians, and conduct the poll as ordered by the court.
Enumerating the loss incurred by the people of the district, due to the absence of a representative for over two years, Umeh warned against further delay in the conduct of the election.
He said, “INEC should ignore further decoy by some people who are bent on ensuring the people of Anambra are denied the opportunity of having a representative on the floor of the National assembly till the end of the eight senate of the national assembly.”
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of APGA, Dr Victor Oye, has described the Senatorial rerun as, “a very important election through which our great party will produce its first Senator”.
“It is our view that everything possible should be done to sustain the present winning streak in the party into 2019 general election.
“We are committed to continue to work for the peace, progress and prosperity of APGA.
“We urge all our members, especially those in Anambra Central, to brace up to the challenges ahead.
“We congratulate our candidate, Chief Victor Umeh, on his doggedness and focus, which have made the impending victory now a clear possibility.
“We seize this opportunity to appeal to all those aggrieved one way or another to sheathe their swords and cooperate with our great party to produce a Senator for Anambra Central after 31 months without one.”
