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Controversy As INEC Publishes ‘Dud Cheque Issuer’, Uzodinma As Imo APC Governorship Candidate
Controversy is trailing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) release of the name of Senator Hope Uzodinma as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State.
BigPen Online reports that INEC had on Friday published the name following a court order obtained by the APC candidate from a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja.
Senator Hope had approached the court for an order to override Thursday’s ruling of the Federal High Court sitting in Owerri.
Meanwhile, twenty aspirants on the platform of the APC had obtained the previous order which restrained INEC from publishing the name of the party’s candidate.
The APC leadership in the state has distanced itself from the name published by the electoral umpire.
Mr Jones Onwuasoanya, the Publicity Secretary of the party in Imo explained in a statement that INEC closes work at 4pm, except on election days when it may continue collation of results till very late in the night.
He also stated that the electoral body had published the particulars of governorship candidates in the state earlier in the day, stressing that there was no fresh court order compelling INEC to publish any name for Imo APC.
According to the Imo APC spokesman, Senator Uzodimma’s running mate is from the same Federal Constituency with him.
“This can hardly be possible, given Nigeria’s political culture,” he said, adding, “The only authentic governorship candidate of the APC in Imo State is Ugwumba Uche Nwosu and this will be proven with time.”
Onwuasoanya accused Uzodimma of taking extreme measure to ensure that his name was published in order to keep his supporters happy and hopeful.
Uzodinma is the senator facing a case of criminal complaint of issuing dud cheque which has been referred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for investigation and appropriate action.
Justice Abdulwahab Muhammed, had during the October 29, 2018 proceedings of the case charged EFCC to take over the matter.
The court had on September 18, 2018 ordered the arrest of the senator following his refusal to honour the summons to answer to the complaint that he issued a dud cheque of N200m.
The complainant, Chima Akuzie and his company, Chitek Ventures Limited, claimed that Uzodinma and his companies issued them a N200m dud cheque of United Bank of Africa.
The complainants alleged that Uzodimma sub-contracted to them a shore-line protection contract in Koko, Delta State, which the senator was said to have got from the Niger Delta Development Commission.
They noted that the N200m bounced cheque was meant for the payment of the execution of the project.