Anambra Central Senatorial tussle: Umeh needs help – Ekwunife
By; Jacob Onjewu Dickson
Anambra Central Senatorial seat tussle took a comical twist on Monday when the ousted Senator and newly defected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Uche Ekwunife suggested a psychiatric test for the APGA candidate in the contest, Chief Victor Umeh.
Ekwunife who spoke to journalists at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja after undergoing screening said why her coming into APC is throwing up some controversies, is because somebody is jittery of her picking the party’s ticket as a candidate.
Ekwunife said Victor Umeh is gripped with fear because he knows she is the only person that can defeat him.
She stressed that “Is Victor Umeh, because he knows that I am the only one that can stop him, I am the only one that can win him, that is why he cannot mention two sentences without calling my name.
“Whatever he says, he calls my name, if he is eating he calls my name, if he is drinking he calls my name, if he is sleeping he calls my name. I think time has come when he needs to visit psychiatric.
On whether she is legally qualified to contest she said “I don’t think anybody should interpret the law, if you want proper interpretation of the law, you go to the court. Some people are jittery of my candidature, some of them are afraid, I am sure you will be hearing that from APGA candidate only, he is not a lawyer he hasn’t been one before, if he wants proper interpretation of the law, he should seek redress in the court”.
According to her, she is qualified to contest under the APC ticked, because the party’s constitution did not discriminate on who came first into the party, adding that “Well, being a member of House of Representatives for two term and a Senator for six months before nullification, I don’t think there is any other qualification that remain, I am quite qualify to run and I believe those that voted me in are still there waiting anxiously to ensure that I go back to my seat.
Ekwunife said she had done her home-work well before jumping ship into the APC’s fold. According to her, “You don’t expect that I will just enter party without the consent of stakeholders supports in APC.”
She said as politicians, “We play on the same environment, all political parties, we are brothers and sisters. We are on the same field, we eat from the same plate, we know our environment quite well, we know ourselves quite well, what differs is political party. So that I have entered APC newly does not mean I don’t know members of APC.
Meanwhile, a major opponent to Senator Ukwunife for the APC ticket, Sharon Ikeazor said, Senator Uche Ukwunife is not a threat to her ambition for the party’s ticket.
Ikeazor who was former Women leader of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) and Interim Woman Leader for the APC, spoke to journalists at APC National Secretariat, Abuja on Monday too.
Responding to question on whether Ekwunife is a threat to her ambition she said: “No, there is no threat at all, she is equally qualify to contest for this and so am I, may the best woman win.
“O yes, there is no problem of being a threat or not, we are not a threat to each other so let the best person win.”
Ikeazor who claimed she has a political structure in Anambra to win the election even though she is not making noise about it stressed that her name is ringing bell already in Anambra despite entering the race within short period.
“Yes I do, I may not be loud about it, but I do have my structure, that is what I am deploying right now. If you notice I join this race not too long ago, but go into Anambra now, is my name you will hear. I have the structure.”
She emphasized that “I am going into this race for the people of Anambra. I have worked closely with my people in Anambra not on the political level, but on the humanitarian level for years.
“So now I am transcending from that into politics to be their representatives, because I understand the issues on ground right from the erosion that is washing away our lands in the south-east down to unemployment, which our youths are suffering.”
