14th April, 2023
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), in the recently held general elections, Peter Obi, has appealed to his supporters in Ogbaru, Anambra state, to vote for the party’s House of Representatives candidate, Hon. Victor Afam Ogene, in Saturday’s supplementary election.
The February 25 election into Ogbaru Federal Constituency seat was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Commission has scheduled a supplementary election through which the winner of the constituency seat will emerge for Saturday, April 15.
Speaking ahead of the supplementary election, Obi assured that Ogene is a good candidate, who is humble, loyal and honest who would ensure that the development of Ogbaru would not be neglected.
Hon. Ogene was a member of the House of Representatives who represented Ogbaru from 2011 to 2015.
Obi made this appeal on Thursday, April 13, while on a road-show campaign tour of the wards in the Ogbaru Federal Constituency, where INEC slated to conduct supplementary election to determine the ultimate winner of the federal constituency seat.
At the various spots where he presented the LP candidate in the federal constituency, Hon. Ogene to the people of the area, Obi who was accompanied by Senator-elect Tony Nwoye and Mr. Oseloka Obaze told the people that Ogene is committed to his(Obi’s) philosophy of “building a new Nigeria” and told the people “I am here to beg you to vote for us, vote for Labour Party, vote for Afam Ogene, we will support him, and, he will rebuild here (Ogbaru).
“Remember that I built all these roads here when I was governor, if you vote for us in this Saturday re-run election, we will come back to thank you; Afam Ogene will develop here,” Obi, who was also a former governor of Anambra state, said.
The Labour Party won both the presidential and senatorial elections in Ogbaru in February, while its candidate, Ogene, was also leading other parties comfortably in the House of Representatives election before it was declared inconclusive.
Meanwhile, the Anambra state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, has urged INEC, to provide a level playing field for all the contestants, ahead of Saturday’s rescheduled House of Representatives election in Ogbaru Federal Constituency.
This call, NUJ said was to protect the credibility of the election and also ensure that the election was free, fair and devoid of any anti democratic tendencies.
The NUJ in a communique it issued at its monthly state congress at the Godwin Ezeemo International Press Centre, Awka, warned the Anambra state government against any acts of intimidation against the people of Ogbaru, as it is alleged that the ruling to All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, wants to win the election by all means.
The union also enjoined the commission to ensure that all the sensitive and non sensitive materials for the poll were deployed early enough, and for the election to commence as planned with adequate security so as to prevent voters’ apathy and to allow the people votes to count.
The communique co-signed by the Chairman; Dr Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Secretary, Comrade Sir Aloysius Ofodile; and Comrades Okechukwu Onuegbu and Abuchi Onwumelu reiterated that all the stakeholders, including the contestants and voters in the federal Constituency should support the INEC in organising a credible, free and fair election.
It read further “As the 2023 State and National Assembly elections Tribunal commence sittings in Anambra State, the congress warned politicians to refrain from acts and utterances capable of destablising the peace of the State.”
“Therefore, the congress urged all the contestants, political parties and other stakeholders that participated on the 2023 general elections in the State to either accept defeat or seek redress in peaceful manner.”