The AnyiChucks Campaign Council, the campaign council of Dr Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Ebonyi State, has cautioned Senator Obinna Ogba against parading himself as governorship candidate, advising him to respect democratic process.
Senator Ogba, who emerged candidate in the party’s rescheduled primary held on May 5, which has since been declared null and void by a federal high court in Abakaliki, the state capital, has continued to parade himself as the authentic candidate.
On Thursday, Ogba took things a notch further by presenting his running mate for the governorship election.
Reacting to the senator’s claims, the AnyiChucks Campaign, in a statement by its director of media and publicity, Abia Onyike, noted that his conduct is not only sacrilegious but an act of contemptuous effrontery against the judicial authorities
The statement titled, ‘He who goes to Equity must go with clean hands,’ said, “The Anyichuks Campaign Organization had overtime tolerated and ignored the excessive antics of the Sen. Obinna Ogba Campaign group. The reason for our matured approach to issues was our understanding that we were members of the same family engaged in internal power struggle to elect our candidates to face the APC in the 2023 General Elections. We looked forward to someday when we shall mend fences, reconcile and close ranks to face the common enemy. And that time is NOW.”
Onyike said the time has come to put things in proper perspective, and clarify the PDP candidate’s positions on the claims made by Ogba.
He said, “However, we wish to seize this opportunity to clarify our position on the following:
“With all due respect to Sen. Obinna Ogba, who contested the 2022 PDP Governorship Primaries in Ebonyi State and lost to the winner, Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odi, we plead with him to show some restraint and maturity by respecting the democratic processes and stop taking laws into his own hands. His current posturing constitutes a clog in the wheel of progress of our great party, the PDP in Ebonyi State.
“We take exception to Sen. Ogba’s continuous and unrelenting crusade of falsehood and his irridentist commitment to misrepresent and disobey the sacred orders of a Court of competent jurisdiction. His continuous disobedience of the orders of the Federal High Court, Abakaliki, which nullified the PDP primaries of 4th and 5th June, 2022 has been noted. His conduct is not only sacrilegious but an act of contemptuous effrontery against the judicial authorities.
“For instance, Sen. Ogba has continued to parade himself as the PDP Guber candidate for Ebonyi state, advertising his Certificate of Return which the Court had nullified. Then on the 23rd of June, two days after Ogba failed to secure “Stay of Execution” in the Court of Appeal, Enugu, he addressed a small gathering of his supporters and purportedly presented his so-called Deputy Governorship Candidate/Running mate to nowhere in particular. The PDP NWC has nothing to do with Ogba’s Running Mate as it is an exercise in futility. The Party has already screened the Deputy Governorship Candidate to Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odi, in the person of Sen Igwe Nwagu.
” Is this the case of a bad loser or a case of unbridled desperation, impunity, anarchism or impersonation or what?
“Was it not on the 21st of June, 2022 that Sen. Ogba approached the Court of Appeal to apply to be joined in the case at the Federal High Court Abakaliki, to enable him file his Appeal? So, if he was the PDP Governorship Candidate as he falsely/continuously claims, what then did he go to do at the Court of Appeal? If Ogba cannot obey a Court Order, then he has no business going to any other Court for that matter, including the Court of Appeal. He who goes to Equity must go with clean hands.
“A person who promotes the flouting of Court Orders is an anarchist and an anti-democratic element. When a Court of Law gives a judgement on an issue and someone deliberately commissions himself to be misinterpreting the judgement in the eyes of the public, that individual is engaging in criminal contempt of court and should be getting ready to go to jail.
“We are sending a note of warning to Sen. Ogba that our Lawyers will not hesitate to file Contempt Proceedings against him if these calculated acts of brigandage are not halted forthwith.”