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Tag: Oseloka Obaze

  • JUST IN: Obi’s former campaign manager, Obaze, dumps Labour Party 

    JUST IN: Obi’s former campaign manager, Obaze, dumps Labour Party 

    Former Secretary to the Anambra State Government, Oseloka Obaze, has resigned from the Labour Party (LP), citing unresolved leadership issues at the national level. 

    Obaze, who also served as Peter Obi’s campaign manager, expressed concerns over the party’s handling of internal affairs and protested the conduct of the April 5, 2025, governorship primary in the state, describing it as fraught with irregularities. 

    His resignation, contained in a letter addressed to the LP Chairman in Ochuche Ward 406, Ogbaru Local Government, further deepens the party’s crisis in Anambra, where he has been a key figure. 

    Obaze, a former diplomat, played a central role in Obi’s 2023 presidential campaign and was instrumental in the ‘Obidient movement.’

    His exit raises fresh questions about the party’s stability in the state.

  • PDP urges people to vote

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the people of Anambra State to exercise their franchise on Saturday despite the let down by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last weekend.

    The Chairman of Atiku/Obi Campaign Council, Oseloka Obaze, who addressed reporters yesterday, regretted the economic implications and opportunity cost of the postponement.

    He maintained that four years was enough time for INEC to prepare for the elections, “the postponement was a systemic failure on the part of INEC,” he added.

    According to him, INEC must apologise for causing so much frustration and international embarrassment to Nigeria, even as he urged Nigerians to ensure that their voices were heard through the ballot on the rescheduled dates.

    Read also: PDP alleges plots by Buhari, APC to truncate democracy

    He said: “INEC should revisit its directives that political campaigns should not be reopened. Our party takes a strong exception to that, and if need be, we are willing to approach the court to seek interpretation of the Electoral Act.

    “Our party in Anambra State will meet with the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) to inspect those materials, just the way we inspected them when they arrived, to ensure their sanctity has not been violated. And that should apply across board.”

  • Bello congratulates Obiano, lauds Buhari for good poll conduct

    Bello congratulates Obiano, lauds Buhari for good poll conduct

    Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi on Sunday congratulated Mr Willie Obiano on his re-election as the Governor of Anambra.

    He described Obiano’s re-election  as a ”well-deserved victory”.

    In a congratulatory message issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Petra Onyegbule, in Lokoja, Bello commended President Muhammadu Buhari for ensuring a level playing ground for all candidates in the election.

    He said that the president’s action was a proof by the APC-led Federal Government to ensure credible, free, fair and peaceful elections and respect for the rule of law under his leadership.

    “On behalf of the Government and good people of Kogi State, I congratulate the Governor of Anambra State, His Excellency, Mr. Willie Obiano, for a well-deserved victory.

    “I equally congratulate the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, on the peaceful, free and fair election in Anambra State, acceptable to all.

    “Ensuring a peaceful, free and fair election is a testament to the fact that President Buhari embodies and exemplifies the Change Mantra of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    “The voice of the people spoke loudly and it has resonated for all to hear. This is the singular most prominent feature of a democracy which allows people to choose their leader out of many contestants,” he said.

    Bello, however, applauded the candidate of APC, Mr Tony Nwoye, for putting up a good fight, and described him as “a winner through whom the APC has become entrenched in Anambra State.

    “As a people, we shall continue to consolidate on the gains we have made over the past 16 years as we break new progressive frontiers.”

    Obiano of APGA won the election with  234, 071 votes ahead of  APC who scored 98, 752 votes and Oseloka Obaze of PDP with 70, 293 votes.

    Thirty-six candidates contested the election.

    NAN

  • More voters turn out in Obaze’s unit

    More voters turn out in Obaze’s unit

    More voters are turning out in Unit 14 in Ogbaro where People Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate Oseloka Obaze expected to vote.

    An All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) agent Enebeli Augustine said the process has been peaceful.

    “I have not seen anyone harassed or intimidated,” he said at about 11am.

    A 76-year-old farmer Patrick Ogbune said he voted for his brother Obaze.

    “Oseloka is my brother and I want him to win. If he wins, he must make Ogbaru a better place,” he said.

    Another voter, Ifeanyichukwu Nzekwe, said Anambra deserves a good leader.

    “We want a leader that will bring us out of darkness. Everything has been going on peacefully in the ward,” he said.

     

  • PDP candidate warns against smear campaign in Anambra guber poll

    PDP candidate warns against smear campaign in Anambra guber poll

    Mr Oseloka Obaze, the governorship candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra has warned other PDP candidates, political parties and their supporters to eschew politics of bitterness and campaign of calumny.

    Obaze made the call in a statement made available to newsmen in Awka, the state capital, on Tuesday.

    He decried the alleged smear campaigns targeted at discrediting his person and the process of his emergence as the PDP candidate in the upcoming election in the state.

    He said that although political parties and their candidates enjoyed the right to freely sell their manifestoes to the electorate, others reserved the right to seek redress whenever they felt slandered under the guise of campaign.

    He said: “My attention has been drawn to various malicious reports on social media platforms aimed at tarnishing my image and credibility as the candidate of the PDP in the forthcoming election.

    “Such reckless postings constitute fake news, hate speeches and inciting words,” Obaze said.

    According to him, “the malicious reports range from allusions that I fraudulently won the PDP primaries, which was nationally televised, to my going to take an oath of allegiance in a shrine and, of late, that I was admitted in a psychiatric hospital overseas.

    “Rather than focus on campaign issues, they resort to campaign of calumny,” he said, adding that there were acceptable limits to propaganda.

    The PDP governorship hopeful further said that he remained committed to issue-based campaign, in spite of the fact that he had access to damaging information about other contestants.

    “I hereby reiterate my commitment to run a campaign free of fake news, hate speech and calumny. I will dismiss anyone on my team who engages in such unacceptable conducts.

    “I hope other governorship candidates will publicly make a similar commitment,” Obaze said.

    NAN

  • Only court can stop my governorship ambition – Ifeanyi Ubah

    Only court can stop my governorship ambition – Ifeanyi Ubah

    A governorship aspirant on Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) platform in the forthcoming poll in Anambra, Mr Ifeanyi Ubah, said only the court could stop his ambition.

    He alleged that the party’s primary election conducted to pick its candidate for the poll, was fraught with irregularities and that the party leadership had refused to address his complaints on it.

    Ubah made this known at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday, and said that he would continue with his aspiration until his complaints were addressed by the party.

    He said that he would approach the court to seek his right after exhausting all the internal mechanisms to address the issues as stipulated in PDP Constitution.

    He said that he had contacted party leaders, Board of Trustees members as well as appeared at the party’s primary election Appeal Panel, but that his concerns had not been addressed.

    “I will be going to court to seek redress; only the court will determine the party’s candidate or the party should come back to us and addresses the irregularities.

    “They know that the person they have chosen has no requisite to be the party’s candidate. It is their responsibility to right the wrong,’’ he said.

    Ubah, who is the Chairman of Capital Oil, said that he would pursue the legal angle on the matter for himself and other Nigerians that may also be treated in the same manner in future.

    “I am doing this not just because of me but because all the political parties will not act the same way PDP has done. If we continue to allow issues like this, people will continue to suffer over impunity.’’

    Ubah said that Mr Oseloka Obaze, who was declared winner of the primary election and upheld by the party’s Appeal Panel, did not emerge through a transparent, free and fair means, describing the primary as “a fraudulent exercise.”

    He said that he noticed some irregularities in the primary, including overnight change of delegates’ list, and alleged that the delegates used for the election were different from those on Certified True Copy list he obtained.

    He added that people that lodged the complaints at the primary election venue were chased away with tear gas.

    “They use that opportunity to smuggle in people. We have 326 wards in Anambra, and even if we had three delegates per wards, we will have 678 delegates, not 958.

    “Also in the party’s Constitution there is what we call statutory delegates who are over 400, they were all cut off.

    “What they did was that they gave black marks on the fingers of those they wanted in, and by the time they call you in and if you don’t have those marks they pushed you away.

    “All complaints on these issues were ignored.’’

    Ubah said that he remained the best candidate of PDP for the election in the state “because we are closer to the people, and have invested in the party and in the people’’.

    He accused former governor of the state, Mr Peter Obi and Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers of imposing an unpopular candidate on the delegates.

    “Sadly, an election which was supposed to provide a level-playing field for all seven aspirants cleared for the race turned to a dance of shame.

    “All these represent the greatest act of impunity bearing in mind the fact that the party had began to gain sympathy from Nigerians.’’

    On the allegation that he was hobnobbing with other political parties, Ubah said that as a business man, he was free to relate with any political party and the Federal Government.

  • Anambra poll: PDP Appeal Panel upholds Obaze’s candidature

    Anambra poll: PDP Appeal Panel upholds Obaze’s candidature

    The National Caretaker Committee (NCC), Peoples Democratic People (PDP), has upheld the Primary Election that produced Mr Oseloka Obaze as the party’s flag bearer for the Anambra governorship election scheduled for Nov. 18.

    The PDP Head of Publicity Division, Chinwe Nnorom, disclosed this in a statement issued on behalf of the Caretaker Appeal Panel, on Saturday in Abuja.

    Nnorom said the committee upheld Oseloka’s candidacy having critically examined all the petitions validly filed before it.

    She said appeals for the Aug. 28, governorship primaries were heard on Sept. 12, at the PDP National Secretariat, Abuja, by the Panel chaired by its National Chairman, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi.

    “To this end, the Leadership enjoins all party members and supporters in Anambra, especially the aspirants, to put the issues regarding the Primary Election before, during and after behind them.

    “We should work together as one indivisible family ahead of the Nov. 18 governorship election,” he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that some of the aspirants on the primary election day staged a protest at the venue of the party’s primaries in Anambra over alleged unwillingness of the party to listen to their complaints.

    Some of the aspirants were Chairman, Capital Oil, Ifeanyi Uba, Sen. Stella Oduah, former Minister of Aviation, Mr John Emeka and a member of the House of Representatives, Lynda Ikpeazu.

    Oduah, who withdrew from the primary election cited imposition of candidates on the party for her action.

  • Anambra 2017: Obaze thanks PDP faithful

    Anambra 2017: Obaze thanks PDP faithful

    Mr Oseloka Obaze, gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has thanked the members of the party for nominating him as the party’s torch bearer for the Nov. 18 election in Anambra.

    Obaze in a statement after he clinched victory at the PDP primary in Awka on Monday, enjoined all to join hands with him to work for the party’s victory at the poll.

    Obaze who described the victory as that of the party said he would remain focused, noting that he could now have a good night rest after a period of serious campaign.

    “I thank God for this day and the outcome of our party primaries. I am humbled by this show of confidence reposed on me by the representative electorate of our great party, PDP.

    “I thank our party leadership, the executive governors who oversaw the electoral process, the PDP southeast zonal leaders, and  the Anambra state PDP caretaker committee, under the able leadership of Prof. ABC Nwosu.

    “I congratulate and thank my fellow aspirants for their graciousness and extend a hand of fellowship to them and invite them to join me in the campaign to win the government house for our party.

    “I thank my family, friends, admirers and supporters immensely.  To Ndi Anambra, I promise in humility to remain focussed on the campaign to turn Anambra around and deliver good governance to our people because Anambra deserves better.

    “I will get a good night sleep and then, begin to strategize on the campaign that lies ahead. Thank you and good evening,” he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Obaze polled 672 votes to defeat Chief Alex Obiogbolu, who secured 190 votes to come second and Dr Ifeanyi Uba with 94 votes, for third place.

  • Anambra election:  Obaze clinches PDP ticket

    Anambra election:  Obaze clinches PDP ticket

    Mr Oseloka Obaze has clinched the People’s Democratic Party, PDP governorship ticket to fly the party’s flag in the November 18 Anambra governorship election.

    In a landslide victory, he defeated oil mogul, Dr Ifeanyi Ubah, Dr Alex Obiogbulu and Sen Stella Oduah to the ticket of the party.

    Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi state and Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom state led the Committee appointed by the National Leadership of the party that conducted the primary election amidst tight security at the Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre in Awka, the state capital.

    Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were also present to monitor the election.

    A total of 958 delegates took place in the one day exercise and at the end Obaze, a former Secretary to the State Government, emerged victorious with  672 votes while Obiogbolu came a distant second with 190 votes.

    Mr Ubah could only garner 94 votes to place third while two votes were declared as invalid.

    There was a mild drama after counting of the votes as Mr Ifeanyi Uba took the microphone and protested the election result claiming that the election was mared by irregularities.

    But Umahi interrupted him and asked him to wait for him to declare the results to make his protest.

    After the declaration of the results, Dr Uba said the delegates list was only given to them two days to the election unlike what other parties got their list four weeks before the primaries.

    This he said made it difficult for the candidates to campaign to the delegates.

    He also noted that he and some of the candidates who withdrew have already instituted a case in the court to challenge the primaries because of the massive irregularities.

    Three other contestants, John Emeka, a former Minister, Hon Linda Ikpeazu representing Onitsha North and South federal constituency and Prof Akaolisa Ufodike had earlier announced their withdrawal from the race.

    Mr Emeka in a press statement cited irregularities in the party’s delegates list for his decision to back out of the race.

    The aspirant who did not state those responsible for the mutilation of the list simply announced his withdrawal from the contest.

    Governor Umahi before the commencement of voting acknowledges receipt of withdrawal by Ikpeazu and Ufodike.

    There have been accusations and counter accusations over the party’s delegates list, with some aspirants complaining of the party’s rank being infiltrated by members of other political parties, with the hope of disrupting the emergence of the party’s choice candidate.

    Accreditation of delegates began at exactly 10am at three designated centres in the state which are Emaus house, J-Jumac Hotel and Alexandria hotel.

    Voting commenced as soon as accreditation was completed a few hours and was concluded at around 4:30pm.

    Thereafter sorting and collation of results began immediately after the votes were cast.

     

  • Anambra 2017: PDP’s Obaze unveils manifesto, promises economic viability

    Anambra 2017: PDP’s Obaze unveils manifesto, promises economic viability

    Mr Oseloka Obaze, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial aspirant in the Nov.18 governorship election in Anambra has said that if elected, his administration would be premised on principles for good governance and economic viability.

    In the manifesto, entitled “Anambra Deserves Better’’, which was made available to newsmen on Friday in Awka, Obaze disclosed that his administration would be hinged on “authentic continuity, good governance, public ownership, inclusive governance and free press’’.

    He added that that he was on a mission of one term of four years service to the state as governor.

    Obaze, an advocate for Good Governance and a Policy Consultant, said that he had identified 15 core areas that encompass activities and the benefits to be delivered to the people and would tackle that proactively.

    He noted that the core areas were in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

    Obaze said: “I hereby set out my core compact with Ndi Anambra’’, consisting of five basics principles predicated on globally accepted best practices of good governance.

    “Since the essence of governance is to serve the people, I have also identified 15 core areas encompassing activities and deliverables which my government must tackle proactively in the public interest in these four years I intend to serve.

    “These are in tandem with the U.N. SDGs,’’ he said.

    The former diplomat promised to re-enact the Anambra Integrated Strategy (ANIDS) of former Gov. Peter Obi to implement the SDGs policy in the state.

    According to him, he will provide authentic continuity and consolidation in development, finance, economy, infrastructure, education and health gains made by successive governments in Anambra, especially the Peter Obi administration.

    “I promise to ensure stability, civility, frugality, transparency, political tolerance, diverse views at all levels and public expenditure will be result-based and project-driven.

    “I will uphold the bond of performance between the government and its people, provide and deliver proactively through adaptive leadership, adequate, efficient and effective delivery of infrastructure.

    “My government will insist on inclusivity, rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, equity, accountability, and strategic vision with a view to bridging the trust gap between the people and the government.

    “It is my belief that Anambra Government must belong to Ndi Anambra; I offer to translate the viewpoint, values and needs of Ndi Anambra to core policies that serve collective interest and guarantee equity at all levels,’’ he said.

    Obaze said that representation in government would reflect gender balance, equity, non-partisanship and based on clear merit.

    “My government will promote the respect for the various branches and tiers of government and support the oversight responsibilities of the legislature, independence of the judiciary and the autonomy of the local government.

    “Local Government Elections in the state would be promptly conducted to introduce and support the Charter of Townships and conversion of the present Town Union President-General System to a more operational, self-supporting and self-accounting to enhance grassroots governance and development.

    “Finally, freedom of expression, access to information will be guaranteed with a view to making government business less opaque; we will make government and its business more transparent and accountable,’’ he said.

    He said that if elected governor, he would send an Executive Bill to the Anambra State House of Assembly that would underline the rights of public access to information.

    “In this context, every person shall have a right of access to information without prejudice to state security.’’