The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has published the name of Valentine Ozigbo as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP for November 6th, Anambra governorship election.
The Commission said the decision is in line with the ruling of Appeal Court which recognises the former Transcorp Hilton boss as the candidate of the PDP.
In a statement by Festus Okoye Esq., National Commissioner and Chairman, Infomation and Voter Education Committee titled ‘UPDATE ON PREPARATIONS FOR THE ANAMBRA GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION’ the electoral umpire also accepted the substitution of the Deputy Governorship of the party to Lilian Azuka Enemo.
“The Commission was served with two judgements of the Court of Appeal (Awka Judicial Division) in respect of the candidature of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the Anambra Governorship election. The Court has ordered the Commission to recognize and publish the name of Mr. Valentine Ozigbo as the Governorship candidate.”
In the statement dated 9th September, Okoye disclosed that: “The final list of candidates will be published on 7th October 2021 as provided for in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election.”
Also, the Commission reversed its earlier decision of distributing non-sensitive from their Owerri Office because their Awka Office will be ready by the time it will be needed.
“It will be recalled that our State Office in Awka was attacked by unknown gunmen. The damage to the physical facility was extensive. So too was the destruction of movable materials, including 50% of the non-sensitive materials already delivered for the election.
“While the Commission is making efforts to rebuild the physical facilities, we took a pragmatic decision to distribute the replacement non-sensitive materials from our South East Zonal Stores in Owerri in order to meet our deadlines. For clarity, the non-sensitive materials are the non-pharmaceutical COVID-19 items such as hand sanitizers and face masks, envelopes, posters, stickers, sellotapes, scissors, liquid gum and other stationery items required mainly at the polling unit level.
“However, following a review of the deadlines for the completion of work on the destroyed physical facilities, the Commission is satisfied that the ongoing work will be completed by the end of this month. Consequently, the Commission is now in a position to operate from our office in Awka where the batching and distribution of all non-sensitive materials will take place.”
INEC also appealed to “all stakeholders to continue to cooperate with the Commission for a transparent and credible election in Anambra State.”
