Anambra South: Stakeholders Back Egwuonwu As INEC Gives Condition For Bye Election
The coast is becoming clearer for Chief Akai Egwuonwu to succeed late Ifeanyi Ubah in the Senate as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) guidelines say that only fresh candidates without elective political office shall be fielded by political parties.
This condition rules out the possibility of a serving lawmaker to contest the Anambra South Senatorial District bye election.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of INEC who said this during a consultative meeting with the chairmen of the 18 political parties in Abuja on Wednesday urged them field fresh candidates for bye-elections into State and federal legislative positions.
He said there were situations where the bye-elections in one senatorial district was won by a member of the House of Representatives from the same district, thereby creating another vacancy.
“In turn, a member of the State Assembly won the bye-election to the House of Representatives, thereby creating a vacancy in the State Assembly. Consequently, one bye-election led to three bye-elections.
“We appeal to you as leaders of political parties to nominate fresh candidates for this bye elections, instead of serving members, so that we don’t have to conduct several by-elections,” he said.
Stakeholders of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) say the party do not need to look any further but hand its ticket to Egwuonwu, a true party man with capacity to achieve victory for it.
