Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ezinihitte council area of Imo State have denied knowledge of a list of candidates for the upcoming council poll, making the rounds in the media.
The leaders under the aegis of Ezi North Leadership Block, stated this while speaking to newsmen, in Ubonukam, Onicha, Ezinihitte council area, yesterday, ahead of the state’s Sept. 21, 2024 local council election.
Spokesman of the group, Chief Christian Njoku, called on Governor Hope Uzodinma and the party’s leadership to jettison a list of purportedly consensus candidates making the rounds adding that it is not coming from the leadership of the LGA.
Njoku, a seasoned politician and former state chairman of the defunct National Republican Convention, noted that Ezinihitte LGA has two political blocks, Ezi North and Ezi South, from where consensus candidates are usually selected by political parties for elective positions.
He said that in line with existing power sharing arrangements in the LGA, each of Ezi North and Ezi South blocks should usually produce one of either the member of the House of Assembly or the LGA Chairman as the case may be.
He added that this has been the standing arrangement, as each of the political blocks is made up of an equal number of six wards.
According to him, all elective positions for persons from the LGA were currently occupied by those from the Ezi South block hence the need to ensure that in the spirit of equity, the LGA chairmanship position is zoned to the Ezi North block.
“ In the 2023 General Election, one of our sons from the Ezi North block contested for the House of Assembly seat but, in keeping with existing power sharing agreements, both blocks ignored him and voted for the APC candidate from the Ezi South block and got our collective support.
“ The APC Chairman for Ezinihitte LGA, Mr Mark Adindu; the House of Assembly member, Mr Henry Agbasonu; the APC Owerri Zonal Chairman, Mr Justice Ogu and the member representing Ezinihitte in the Federal House of Representatives, Mr Emeka Chinedu are all from the Ezi South block.
“ We now wonder why anyone would not support Ezi North for the only remaining elective office, the LGA chairmanship position, since we already paid our dues.
“ We call on the state Chairman of our great party, Dr McDonald Ebere, and the state Governor, Sen. Hope Uzodinma, not to accept the submitted name making the rounds in the media as a consensus candidate for the LGA in the forthcoming council election.
“ We have six qualified aspirants from Ezi North and the party is at liberty to select any of them as the consensus candidate; they all have our trust and support,“ he stated.
He thanked Uzodinma for adopting a consensus arrangement for emergence of the party’s candidates for the poll and pledged the unalloyed support of stakeholders from the LGA for his government and for the party.