Odii remains Ebonyi PDP guber candidate, says Onyike

The Director of Media & Publicity, Anyi Chuks Campaign Organisation, Chief Abia Onyike, yesterday, said that Chief Ifeanyi Odii remains the authentic governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State.

In a statement signed by Onyike in Abakaliki, and made available to The Guardian, Abia was reacting to claims by Obinna Ogba that he has been issued with a Certificate of Return by PDP as the governorship candidate of the party.

Abia said that the primary election of May 28 and 29, 2022, that returned Odii as the flag bearer was duly monitored by INEC, wondering why Ogba will be claiming victory in a primary that was not monitored by INEC.

The statement reads: “The PDP governorship candidate today is Dr. Odii. He won the primary election conducted by PDP on May 28 and 29, 2022.

“The three-man delegates’ list used for the primary was the outcome of the state PDP congress of May 7, 2022, which was recognised by the PDP National Working Committee (NWC).

“That primary election was authorised by PDP’s NWC and was peacefully conducted and monitored by INEC in line with the electoral guidelines and the 2022 Electoral Act. An attempt by the opposition to cancel the successfully conducted primary election suffered a set-back.

“The parallel primaries conducted on June 4 and 5, were anti-democratic intervention by some powerful forces, who were hell-bent on reversing the popular will of the people.

“The ruling of the Federal High Court in Abakaliki on June 7, 2022, restoring the authenticity of the first primary, which elected Dr. Odii was a historic confirmation of the democratic will of Ebonyi PDP against the dictatorship and imposition by few godfathers.”