Dasukigate: I DID NOT RECEIVE ANY MONEY FROM DASUKI FOR JONNATHAN'S ENDORSEMENT EITHER FOR MYSELF OR FOR APGA - OHAMADIKE NDIGBO

OHAMADIKE HOUR ON ODENIGBO 99.1FM WED 13TH JANUARY 2016
Guest: Chief Sir Victor Umeh
Anchor: Olisa Mbeki

From the hot frequency of Odenigbo 99.1fm comes strong vibes of bravery and hope for Ndi Anambra Central... Chief Sir Victor Umeh, Ohamadike Ndigbo speaking on a weekly program tagged Ohamadike Hour on Odenigbo 99.1fm made very outstanding points and cleared every doubt or misconceptions regarding the upcoming rerun election for Anambra Central Senatorial District.

In his words, the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) under whose watch the party recorded tremendous progress debunked every rumor that he collected money from the former President Goodluck Jonathan to effect his endorsement "ana m agwa gi na mu onwe m dika National Chairman anataro ego obuna n'aha APGA ma obu mu onwe m" - Ohamadike speaking in Igbo.


He stressed that his main aim for endorsing Goodluck Jonathan was because he saw him as a brother to Nd'Igbo, especially for the implementation of the resolve of the National Conference which he promised to implement. "it is because of my love for the progress and development of Igbo land that I stick my head to make sure the resolve of the National Conference is implemented and I believe if implemented, the problems facing this country will be controlled, because the South-East and every other geopolitical zones would have a fair share in the Nigerian structure".

On the issue of qualified parties and candidates for the rerun election; Ohamadike noted that the People Democratic Party (PDP) has resolved not to partake in the election due to the arrest of their National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh. He also emphasized that the court judgement is clear on the issue of qualification for parties and candidates noting that only those that contested in the previous election can contest in the rerun and in their original party. "any party that presents a  candidate that is not qualified in a nullified election cannot however present another candidate for the re-run election" - Ohamadike addressing the PDP situation.

On the issue of speculations that he's afraid of going into the contest with others thereby trying to emerge unopposed; Ohamadike referring to the issue of Adamawa in 2007 where Labour party went to the Supreme Court to challenge INEC over a re-run election and the court canceled such election afterwards. He stressed that his major concern is that he doesn't want a situation where after the election and he emerges the winner someone would go to court to challenge the election for not being in line with the provisions of the electoral act. He vowed to use the law in stopping Iyom Uche Ekwunife and any other who may go against the law in order to avoid another nullification.

"If I close my eyes and allow everybody to join the election and wins, maybe a party that scored 100 votes in the election will go to  court and based on electoral act, the court might nullify the election "

He debunked the claims of Iyom Uche Ekwunife that President Muhammad Buhari has endorsed her for the race noting that she (Ekwunife) has been visiting Abuja to lobby for the president's endorsement which has not yielded any positive. He also reported that Mrs Uche Ekwunife and her team has since begun tearing his posters and replacing them with hers.

"whatever conspiracy going on in Abuja cannot work; I am going to stop them again as I've always done through the law" - Ohamadike

He said that those that said he will be minority in the Senate if elected are unrealistic pointing out that there were others who went to the Senate for the first time and were already occupying reputable positions; he further reiterated that his presence in the Senate will as usual command respect and indubitably give the Igbos a reliable voice in Nigeria.

Some of the callers commended Ohamadike for his outstanding achievements in office as the National Chairman of APGA pointing out that the party recorded tremendous progress under his watch enumerating them thus: the victory of Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state who later defected to APC; the recent victory of Hon Dozie Nwankwo and Dr Alex Otti of Abia state to mention but few.

A caller from Onitsha admonished him to support to support the efforts of the Anambra state governor, Chief Dr Willie Obiano in ensuring that the federal government pays the debt own to the state when elected.

Another caller, Antonia from 33 estate Onitsha said the Igbos are poorly represented in the National Assembly. She gave an instance where the whole geopolitical zones were presenting their regional challenges with North on IDP, South South: Oil spillage and pollution but no body spoke for the Igbos... She further lamented about the killing of the IPOB protesters and the missing four corpse.

Response: Ohamadike in his response condemned the killings and stated that if he was present in the Senate at the time of the killings he would've assisted the governor in ensuring that no body got short. He stressed that Onitsha is the heartbeat of the Igbos and that is why most actions are tensed there while the  governor is bound by law to ensure that peace and orderliness is not hijacked.

On the issue of proper representation of the Igbos in the Senate, he promised to interface with 14 other Igbo law makers in the Senate irrespective of political party affiliation for the common interest of the Igbos.

-Chief Sir Victor Umeh, Ohamadike Ndigbo; Ibobo Aguleri is the candidate for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the rerun election for Anambra Central Senatorial District.

By Charles Ifeanyi Obi
anambra.arise@gmail.com
+2347034867974