Secret Reporters No place to hide
The towering stature of the governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano has continued to grow in the state as twenty one PDP candidates who contested for seats in the recent House of Assembly elections have decided to either withdraw their petitions from the Election Petitions Tribunal or stay action on any further challenge of their electoral losses in courts.
In a Communiqué issued in Amawbia after holding fruitful deliberations with the Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Nkem Okeke, the group declared that their decision to desist from any acrimonious legal battles to wrestle victory from their APGA counterparts who emerged victories at the polls was in a bid to enable them to “cooperate with the Executive Governor, Chief Willie Obiano to move Anambra State forward in view of the good works which he is presently doing in the state.”
Said they: “And to effectively achieve the above, the said PDP candidates have undertaken not to take up or initiatie any petitions, claims, reliefs or demands whatsoever in any tribunal, courts, panel or commission of inquiry in respect of any matter arising directly or indirectly from the April 11th 2015 Anambra House of Assembly Elections.”
Explaining further, the group said they had agreed that “whoever may have already filed or initiated any such petition, summons, claims or reliefs will immediately after this meeting, withdraw or cause same to be withdrawn at his or her own expense.”
Articulating the views of the group, Barrister Egwuoyibo Okoye, who was the flag bearer for Nnewi South 2 Constituency, explained that the primary concern of the group was what it should do to move Anambra State forward.
According to him, “we of the PDP, 21 of us that contested election in PDP came together and decided not to proceed to the tribunal. Those of us that had gone to the tribunal equally agreed to withdraw the petition they had already filed. The essence of that is to make this state remain as calm as possible, creating the enabling environment for Obiano to continue with his Willie is Working programme because our distracting him at the tribunal might delay his programme. We want Willie is Working to continue to work and make sure that Anambra State is moved forward. We need to develop Anambra State. No distractions. And we mean business.”
Speaking further, Barrister Okoye pointed out that the group took a “cue from the action of President Goodluck Jonathan who congratulated General Buhari even before the final result in the last election was announced. And that brought a very big peace into the country. Without that, Nigeria would have been boiling today. That is exactly what we want to engender in Anambra State to ensure that there is absolute peace to enable the governor and those that were elected to serve the people have the peace they need to move Anambra State forward.”
Responding, the Deputy Governor, Dr. Nkem Okeke thanked the group for demonstrating remarkable patriotism and extraordinary sportsmanship.
