The name of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt.Honorable Emeka Ihedioha has been listed among the list of candidates released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Owerri on Friday as the Imo State gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).
It would be recalled that controversy had trailed the conduct of the December , 2014 PDP governorship primary in Imo State whereby Senator Ifeanyi Ararume had laid claim to having won the election, alleging that the Electoral Committee that conducted the primary had inflated the votes in favour of Hon. Emeka Ihedioha.
However, the listing of the name of Hon. Ihedioha alongside his running mate Hon. Chuma Nnaji as governorship and deputy governorship candidates respectively of the PDP by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has finally brought to an end the waiting game as to who would fly the party gubernatorial flag in the February 28,2015 gubernatorial polls.
Meantime and in a related development, the Emeka Ihedioha Campaign Organisation, yesterday described as false and mischievous the report in some newspapers that the name of the Deputy Speaker was not among the list of candidates published by INEC office in Owerri for the 2015 general elections. The organisation said the news report was false and should be disregarded by all Imolites and Nigerians in general.
The release which was signed by the Director General of the organisation, Barrister Chris Okewulonu said: “The attention of the Emeka Ihedioha Governorship Campaign Organisation has been drawn to the mischievous news report purporting that the list of candidates published by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office Owerri, for the 2015 General Elections does not include the name of His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha as PDP Imo State governorship candidate.
“We must state categorically that the news reports are totally false, misleading and should be disregarded. That Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, is the Imo State governorship candidate 2015 is factually and legally not in doubt as a visit to the INEC office, Owerri and their public notice board establishes this fact.
“The truth of the matter is that there is no court order of injunction obtained by any person or group restraining INEC from receiving, publishing or treating Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha as the substantive governorship candidate of the PDP for the 2015 general elections in Imo State.”
However, the atmosphere at the INEC headquarters in Owerri, the Imo State capital was tense as supporters of the various parties who had besieged the commission’s office to check candidates’ names were barred from entering into the premises by stern looking security men who said they were acting under instruction.
