On Tuesday, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State blasted former governor David Umahi for claiming the right to produce the next senator of Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone. Umahi had previously abandoned the seat in favor of a ministerial job.
At a courtesy visit with state governor Francis Nwifuru a day after being declared the winner by the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, Umahi reportedly asserted his right to produce his successor. This was reported by SAREWAHAUSA.
But in a statement signed and handed to newsmen in Abakaliki, PDP State Chairman Mr Nwazunku Augustine claimed that Works Minister Umahi’s insistence on being the one to produce the zone’s senator after he dumped the job without adequate consultation is anti-democratic.
Nwazunku maintained that Umahi’s election to the Senate was problematic, and that Umahi had no right to appoint his successor because he had resigned from office without consulting his constituents. “It is extremely preposterous for him to come back now and offer such a ludicrous and anti-democratic assertion that he should be allowed to choose his successor in the Senate,” he said.
But he cautioned the ex-governor that the tribunal’s ruling in his favor on petitions filed against him by Senator Mike Nnachi of the PDP and Linus Okorie of the Labour Party, LP, was not the final word.
In addition, PDP chairman Nwazunku stated, “It is only when the legal matters are concluded that the issue of re-run elections or bye-elections would be thrown up, depending on the final outcome of the legal matter.” Both Nnachi and Okorie have expressed an interest in appealing the judgement.
He continued, “For Umahi to have jumped the gun by piling pressure on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to commence preparations for fresh elections in Ebonyi South Senatorial District is a clear case of impunity and arrogant/reckless abuse of power, which further benchmarks Umahi’s usual acts of impudence and lawlessness.
“The people of the Ebonyi South Senatorial District have the absolute right to determine who will serve as their representatives in the National Assembly. With no longer being the governor of Ebonyi State, “Umahi has no powers whatsoever to muscle his way through in the current Ebonyi South Senatorial District,” he said.
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