The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State, Senator Ayogu Eze has said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to include his name in today’s governorship poll.

Briefing journalists in Enugu on Friday, Eze alleged that barely eight hours to the poll, the commission was yet to obey the ruling of an Abuja Appeal Court ordering it to include his name as the APC candidate in the Saturday elections.

Eze alleged that the removal of his name from the INEC final list of governorship candidates for the election a few days before the election was a calculated attempt to punish him and create room for INEC’s preferred candidate and party.

“Even after the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the Federal High Court which formed the basis for INEC’s action, the commission has bluntly refused to return my name to the final list on the INEC official portal 24 hours after they were served the order of the court,” Eze said.

He wondered why INEC was taking an apparently partisan position on a matter where they would otherwise have been impartial.

According to him,

“INEC is colluding with unknown forces to rob me of my victory on the Saturday March 9 election.”

He alleged that the whole plan was designed to discourage his supporters and deny him victory.

Eze said that barely eight hours to the election his supporters were still confused whether they would participate in the election or not because of the development.

Meanwhile, efforts to reach Dr Emeka Ononamadu, the INEC Residential Electoral Commissioner in Enugu State for reaction failed as his mobile phone was unreachable and he did not respond to messages sent to him.

It would be recalled that the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Thursday ruled that Senator Eze remains the true governorship candidate of the APC in Enugu State.

The court affirmed him as the APC gubernatorial candidate barely two days to the elections.

In His ruling over the substantive suit by Eze challenging his removal by Federal High Court, the panel of judges led by Justice Abdul Aboki upheld the prayers of Eze in which he prayed that he was the duly elected candidate of the party.

The appellate court ruled that;

“What happened at the lower court was a miscarriage of justice as Mr George Ogara has no case in the first place.

“Ogara filed after 14 days of the result being published as allowed by law, so the lower court had no jurisdiction to entertain his case.”

Justice Aboki directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to immediately restore the name of Senator Ayogu Eze as the candidate of the party.

 

NAN