An Enugu political pressure group, Enugu Good Governance Group (E-3G), has called on the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, to investigate the alleged forgery surrounding the replacement of Mr. Ernest Ugwu with Mr. Okey Ezea as the Labour Party candidate for Enugu North Senatorial Zone with a view to bringing any culprit to book.
The group, in a statement by it’s National Coordinator, Comrade Odinaka Okechukwu, on Thursday, said while the civil proceedings in court to determine the authentic candidate of the LP in the senatorial election was in progress in the Court of Appeal, it had become imperative to immediately commence investigation into what it described as the criminal aspect of the matter to protect the integrity of the nation’s electoral system.
It is recalled that Ugwu was elected, unopposed, as the LP candidate for Enugu North senatorial zone. Although there were initial rumours that the state and national leaderships of the party might have surreptitiously replaced him with Ezea, the Publicity Secretary of the party in Enugu, Comrade Ibuchukwu Ezike, dismissed the allegation.
“Our candidate for Senate in Enugu North is still Ernest Ikechukwu Ugwu. Anybody is entitled to say whatever he or she feels but if you go to INEC, it’s still Iyke Ugwu. If you go the National Secretariat of the party, he is the person”, he stated.
However, Okey Ezea’s name had since been published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the LP candidate for the senatorial district based on a withdrawal letter and affidavit purportedly deposed to by Ernest Ugwu at the FCT High Court Abuja.
But Ernest Ugwu, who denied authoring any letter of withdrawal or deposing to any affidavit, insisted his signature was forged and sued Okey Ezea and LP.
Speaking on a national television, where he displayed copies of the allegedly forged documents, Ugwu said: “I looked for everybody to come and contest election and they refused. I contested and won and nobody came to me and asked me, give me this ticket, you went ahead and forged my withdrawal letter without my consent.
“This is where they signed a signature. This is not my signature. I will show you my correct signature. And this particular signature they signed here for my withdrawal, I got this thing from Court because they never approached me.
“Interestingly, this particular signature is the signature that purportedly received the letter for Labour Party as the Admin Secretary. You can see it. So, I am Ugwu Ernest. I am also the Admin Secretary for the Labour Party.
“If you come to the affidavit, you will still see that it is the same signature that signed the affidavit. To make the matter worse, if you look at this thing, it’s a letter written to me by FCT High Court.
“I asked them to give me a certified true copy of my affidavit, let me know whether I did this thing in the dream. And they wrote to me. See their reply. They said we didn’t see you and there is no record like that”.
Concerning capacity to win a senatorial election, he questioned: “Assuming I don’t even have capacity to run, as they claim, are we now going to allow someone, who has the capacity to forge my purported withdrawal documents without my consent? Someone, who forged court documents? Is that what the Labour Party and Peter Obi represent?”
Consequently, the Enugu group, E-3G, insists, “allowing such impunity to thrive would sound the death knell for the nation’s democracy”.
“The Bible is clear that because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in then to do evil.
“Okey Ezea and the Labour Party leadership should be thoroughly investigated. If indicted, then they should be charged to court immediately.
“Forgers belong to the prisons, not government houses or hallowed chambers of the parliament
“By the way, there are so many other similar cases in the LP beyond Enugu North and Enugu State. In fact, Enugu LP are not even sure who their governorship candidate will be in 2023 as Chijioke Edeoga and Evarest Nnaji are also in court. There is palpable panic in Edeoga’s camp right now because the court might even remove Edeoga in ernest.
“Such problems will continue so long as unscrupulous politicians are allowed to freely engage in irregularities and forgery to gain political advantage over others. There must be consequences for bad political behaviours”, the group concluded.
