Umeh To Obi: You Won’t Participate In Anambra Rerun

* It’s free for all election- Uzodike

The Candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance in the Anambra Central Senatorial rerun, Chief Victor Umeh has said he would use every means within the ambit of the law to stop former governor of the state, Mr Peter Obi, from participating in the rerun.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had on Tuesday, March1, postponed indefinitely, the rerun earlier scheduled for Saturday March5.

Sources said that was to enable the commission to Appeal on an Abuja Federal High Court’s judgement that ordered it to allow the People’s Democratic Party to participate in the rerun poll.
INEC had earlier barred the PDP from partaking of the election following the December7, 2015 Court of Appeal’s judgement that nullified the March28,2015 election of the PDP’s candidate, Mrs Uche Ekwunife.
The Court of Appeal had in the judgement ordered a fresh election in the senatorial district within 90 days.
It added that “the 11th respondent(Uche Ekwunife) has been disqualified from participating in the Anambra Central Senatorial district election”.
Following these developments, fresh candidates, including the former governor of the state , Mr Peter Obi, joined in the rerun race.
But addressing journalists at the 2nd Convocation ceremonies of the Tansian University, Umunya, Anambra State on Saturday,where he was conferred with an honorary doctoral degree in Political Science, Umeh described the entrance of new candidates into the race as illegality.
He said the Supreme Court had in plethora of cases said a fresh election resulting from an annulled election ” is a rerun and only those who contested the annulled election would be qualified to participate in the rerun”.
Umeh who was the former National Chairman of APGA, described the Abuja Federal High Court’s judgement that ordered INEC to include PDP in the rerun as one ambush that would crash.
He said the High Court had no powers under any law to delve into an area the Supreme Court had sufficiently covered the ground.
He said ” I didn’t come into politics to make money. I’m into politics to sanitize the system.
“Obi and his group will not contest this election. We won’t allow this perfidy of theirs.
” I have been in court all through my political career and I will continue to do that, especially in this rerun.
“Obi’s campaign posters that are all over the place for this rerun are efforts in futility. He won’t contest this election. “Anambra is not the only place a rerun has been ordered by a court. So, all these things are illegality and cannot not stand, Umeh stated.
But Joe-Martins Uzodike, a lawyer and Obi’s campaigner in the rerun poll,had said what the Court of Appeal ordered in the December7 judgement was ” a fresh election”.
He said “The Court of Appeal’s judgement was made in simple in English language, and it said ‘ go and conduct a fresh election within 90 days.
“What this means is that everything will start all over again, and anybody who is interested can come up and participate.
“That was what the Abuja Federal High Court affirmed when it ordered INEC to go and include the PDP in the rerun,and PDP has endorsed Obi for that.,Uzodike submitted.