It’s deliberate sabotage, NDC chairman Zuwoghe cries out
The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of systematically removing its nominated candidates for the 2027 general election and replacing same with strange names unknown to the party.
Reacting to the list of candidates for the State Houses of Assembly elections published Sunday (August 30) by INEC, the NDC national chairman, Sen. Moses Cleopas Zuwoghe, said the names published by INEC read like a deliberate plot to sabotage the NDC ahead of the general election and cause dissatisfaction among its millions of supporters.
“The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, totally condemns the action of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its officials over the uploading and publication of unauthorized names in various constituencies, principally in the Anambra State House of Assembly (home state of our presidential candidate, His Excellency Peter Obi), where ten (10) names, unknown to the party, names not authorized by the party, names not sent by the party to INEC, in accordance with the law, have now been uploaded and published as candidates of the party,” he said in a statement Sunday evening.
The NDC chairman continued: “We call on the INEC chairman to urgently and immediately cause an investigation into the matter and unravel how this came to be.”
The party said the investigation should also be extended to other constituencies nationwide, where the NDC had observed a pattern of fencing out authentic candidates of the party for INEC-chosen imposters.
“The same investigation should also be carried out in other constituencies like Benue, Imo and others, as this mischief has not only caused an embarrassment to the party, its leadership and genuine candidates, but has also caused a lot of disaffection among the millions of the party’s supporters all over the country and in the Diaspora.
“We, as a party, are also carrying out our own independent investigation, the preliminary findings of which are already pointing to the complicity of INEC officials in foisting names purporting to be our candidates, but who are not from us, and using the uploading process as a tool of blackmail and intimidation against the party, and getting those names to be uploaded and published, for whatever purpose or ulterior motive.”
According to the NDC chairman, the names smuggled into the NDC list of candidates include but are not limited to the following:
ANAMBRA (State HOA)
1. Onitsha South 1 – Umennaajiego Jude Ezenwa
2. Onitsha South 2 – Akpotue Obinna Chibuike
3. Orumba North – Nwankwo Chiemerie
4. Anaocha 1 – Maduagwu Eric K
5. Idemili North – Ngoebisi Obinna
6. Njikoka 1 – Isintume Charles
7. Nnewi South – Nwachukwu Nonso
8. Nnewi South 2 – Okeke Ifeanyi Akunne
9. Ayamelum – Nnonyelu Samson E.
10. 10.Dunukofia –Azotani Chuks Francis
“Even after the NDC had formally appealed those names, on the grounds that they did not tally wth those INEC claimed to have received from its monitoring teams on the field,” he said, the INEC officials “were unwilling to engage us in addressing any perceived anomaly… At the very worst, INEC could have left us with no candidates for those positions.”
There was a predetermined effort on the part of INEC to impose the said candidates on the NDC while removing the names of the rightful candidates, he said, “while criminally handpicking candidates for the parties and instigating a crisis of confidence and internal disharmony within the party”.
“Even as we move to approach the court of competent jurisdiction to seek redress and restore our authentic candidates, the general public and our millions of supporters should note that these are not our candidates,” the NDC chairman stated.
