PDP Faction Adopts Obiano

A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party in Anambra State led by a former state chairman of the party, Mr. Ken Emeakayi, on Thursday adopted Chief Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance as its candidate for the November 18 poll in Anambra State.....

Emeakayi is serving a four year suspension from the national leadership of the party.

Addressing some members of the party at the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women”s Development Centre, Awka, the Anambra State capital, Emeakayi said their support for APGA was informed by what he called an imposition of a governorship candidate, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, on members of the party in the state by the national leaders of the party.

He said they had written to the party’s national Chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, giving the party a five-day ultimatum to substitute Obaze as the party’s candidate or risk members in the state withdrawing their support for him.

He added that Obaze was not a registered member of the party in his ward before he emerged as the party’s candidate.

He said, “We are officially adopting the candidate of the APGA, Chief Willie Obiano, as our candidate for the Anambra governorship election.

“We consulted widely before arriving at this decision. We took into cognisance the fact that in the 2011 and 2015 presidential election respectively, APGA adopted the PDP candidate, Goodluck Jonathan, as its candidate because APGA had no presidential candidate.”

Emeakayi added that supporting Obaze would be labouring in futility as he would risk being removed in court by rival parties, stressing that “there is enough evidence to show that he is not qualified to contest the election.”

But Obaze described Emeakayi and his allies as sore losers. He said he would not have entered the contest if he was not qualified.

“I was duly cleared by the PDP and I’m contesting this election to win. I have the pedigree; I have the qualifications and experience and Anambra people are solidly behind me and they will vote for me. The distractions you see are factory noise,” Obaze stated.