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Tag: Tony Nwoye

  • Anambra: Nwoye defeats Uba, ten others to emerge APC governorship candidate

    Anambra: Nwoye defeats Uba, ten others to emerge APC governorship candidate

    The member  of the House of Representatives for  Anambra East/West Constituency, Tony Nwoye has emerged the flag-bearer of the All Progressive Congress, APC, for the Anambra Governorship election slated to hold on November 18.
    Nwoye defeated his closest contestant, Andy Uba who is the Senator representing Anambra South Senatorial District and the National Auditor of the party, George Moghalu who placed third.
    Announcing the results, Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima who doubles as the Primary Election committee Chairman, said Nwoye got a total of 2146 votes out a total 4333 votes cast. Senator Uba got 931 votes, while Mr Moghalu got 525 votes.
    Votes for other contestants are : Bath Nwibe-414, Johnbosco Onunkwo-85,  Patrick Nwike-20, Paul Chukwuma-110, and Chike Obidogbo-22.
    Others are: Nonso Madu-21, Okonkwo Donatus- 10, Uzor Obinna-17 and Adaobi Uchegbu the only woman in the race got just one vote.
    Thirty one votes were declared invalid while the total valid votes were 4302
    With the result,  Governor Willie Obiano who has since clinched the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, ticket and Mr Nwoye will slug it out in a rematch of the 2013 election which saw Mr Obiano beating Nwoye, then the flagbearer of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
    Incidentally, both are kinmen as they hail from the same Anambra East local government area of the state.
    Governor Shettima thanked the security agencies, party officials, INEC, members of the party everyone who assisted the committee to conduct a smooth primary election.
    He said the election was free and fair as the committee was neutral and impartial to all the contestants.
    Mr Nwoye thanked the Committee for the free and fair conduct of the election and called on his fellow aspirants to rally round him to ensure that the party is victorious at the polls
  • Anambra guber election: Court refuses to hear motion seeking to stop Nwoye

    Anambra guber election: Court refuses to hear motion seeking to stop Nwoye

    …Reps member urges court to dismiss suit for lacking in jurisdiction

     

    Move to stop Tony Nwoye from participating in the primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the Anambra governorship election failed Wednesday as the sitting vacation judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Justice Yusuf Halilu declined to hear a motion ex-parte filed to that effect.

    The motion ex-parte filed by Okechukwu Ogbonnaya, contained seven prayers, particularly prayer 6, for an order of interim injunction restraining the APC from “from clearing the 1st defendant (Nwoye) to contest or stand for its primary elections for the purposes of selecting the party’s governorship candidate for the forthcoming Anambra State governorship election pending the determination of the motion on notice.

    Although the case was listed in the court’s cause list for yesterday, the judge declined   to hear the applicant’s lawyer, who had sought the hearing of the ex-parte motion on grounds of urgency. The judge said there was no urgency to warrant the hearing of the motion.

    Ogbonnaya listed as defendants, in the suit, Nwoye, Chief    Arthur Eze, Atlas Petroleum International ltd, Oranto Petroleum Ltd, Fidelity Bank Plc, APC and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).  He is challenging, among others, the propriety of the alleged donations by Eze and others, to Nwoye’s governorship ambition.

    Nwoye has however challenged the court’s jurisdiction to hear the suit, arguing that the subject matter of the suit relates to Anambra governorship election, on which a court in Abuja cannot hear. He asked the court to strike out the case.

    Alternatively, he asked the court to order the plaintiff to put the defendants “on notice of prayers 3, 4, 5, and 7 in the motion ex parte filed on 31st July, 2017 to enable the 1st defendant (Nwoye) to be heard on those prayers as those reliefs are targeted at stifling the exercise of the constitutional right of the 1st defendant to contest for the Anambra State governorship election.”

    In a supporting affidavit, a lawyer in Nwoye’s team, Obinna Onya said the suit has a direct bearing on the Anambra State Governorship election, which has been scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission to hold on 18th November, 2017 and the primary election of the 6th Defendant which by the prescription of the electoral body must be held not later than August, 2017.

    Onya stated that he was informed by the leader of the legal team, Tobechukwu Nweke that the plaintiff lacks the locus standi to institute the case and that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain adjudicate over a pre-primary issue before the conduct of a primary election

    In further attacking the competence of the suit, Onya stated that “The originating summons and the affidavit in support (filed by the plaintiff) failed to disclose any reasonable cause of action

    “This matter being one bordering on criminality was wrongly commenced by originating summons. This matter is a gross abuse of the process of this Court

    “Being that this motion challenges the jurisdiction of this Court, it is just to set the issues of jurisdiction down for hearing and determination before any other step is taken in this matter.

    “Being that prayers 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 in the motion ex parte filed on 31st July, 2017 are targeted at stifling the exercise of the constitutional right of the 1st defendant to contest for the Anambra State Governorship election, it is only just and proper that the Defendants be put on notice of those prayers to enable the 1st defendant to be heard on those prayers,” he said.

  • No regrets dumping PDP for APC – Nwoye

    No regrets dumping PDP for APC – Nwoye

    Former Governorship candidates of the  People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra state and member representing Anambra East and West federal constituency, Tony Nwoye says there is no regret dumping the party for   the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    He said while addressing the women and the youth who trooped out in the morning, that APC had shown that it had all it takes to move Nigeria forward with President Mohammadu Buhari on the saddle.

    He declared this Friday in Nsugbe, Anambra East Council area of Anambra state while hosting and thanking his constituents for their support over the years.

    Nwoye, who had already marshaled out plans to empower his constituents in August, with sewing machines, dryers, motorcycles, grinding machines among others, said he left PDP exercise of the numerous crises in the party in Anambra.

    He blasted the National Publicity Secretary of (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh for the party’s woes in Anambra state, adding that he had seen that (APC) was a place to be.

    However, he told reporters after addressing the mammoth crowd at Nsugbe yesterday that he had implicit confidence in President Mohammadu Buhari to fix Nigeria, adding that people should give him the chance to achieve it in no distant time.

    “Metuh is the problem of (PDP) in Anambra state and that is the reason why many of us have joined (APC), he is the major contributor to what happened to PDP and I’m telling you now that I loved the party but it is unfortunate I’m no longer with them”

    “Our president, may appear rigid to some people on the way he handles issues but I am telling you now that he means well for the  country, what people should exercise is patience for the country to be well again,” Nwoye said.

    Already the House of Representatives member had lined up activities for his people in Anambra East and west, where he begins tour of the East, with committees set up in each of the two local government areas to pilot the empowerment.

    Also, the women, widows and the less privileged in the area would be empowered between August and September 2016, especially those who were doing all sorts of businesses to beef up their trades.

    According to him, “this is exactly what the APC government stands for. I am using my salary for now to please my people and I have no regrets what so ever,” the former governorship candidate of (PDP) in 2014 election in Anambra said.

    On whether the preparations were for his governorship ambition in APC, he declared, “what I’m doing has no political implication; you should know that the current governor, Chief Willie Obiano is my brother, only the people will decide whether he has done well or not.”

     

  • Anambra: INEC, Obiano, others reject ‘joinder’ motion

    The motion for joinder filed by Dr. Chike Obidigbo, a factional candidate of All Progressive Grand Alliance in the 2013 Anambra governorship election, was on Friday opposed by the counsel representing Chief Willie Obiano.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the motion was also opposed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mr. Tony Nwoye, Sen. Chris Ngige and the Peoples Democratic Party at the Justice Ishaq Bello-led Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Awka.

    Counsel to Obidigbo, Mr. Oba Maduabuchi, had sought to join the factional candidate as a respondent in the petitions as well as an order directing the respondents to serve him with processes.

    “We have sufficient interest in the petitions; we have by exhibits shown that the name of the applicant (Obidigbo) was submitted to INEC as a candidate in the election.

    “The exhibits are judgments recognising Chief Maxi Okwu as the national chairman of APGA who duly nominated Obidigbo as the candidate of the party.”

    In opposing the motion, however, counsel to Nwoye, Mr. George Igbokwe, told the tribunal that the application for joinder was self-defeating.

    “This application, if granted, will invariably result to an amendment of our petition by virtue of the Electoral Act, 2010.

    He contended that none of the exhibits presented by Maduabuchi declared Obidigbo as the winner of the said election.

    Also opposing the motion, the counsel to INEC, Mr. Mathew Ugwuocha, said the commission’s list of candidate for the poll clearly stated Obiano’s name as the APGA candidate.

    “As an umpire in the election, INEC has no dealing with the applicant; besides, form 001 was not submitted for or on behalf of the applicant in the election,” Ugwuocha argued.

     

     

  • Nwoye goes to tribunal

    Nwoye goes to tribunal

    The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the November 16 election in Anambra State, Comrade Tony Nwoye, has taken the All Progressives Grand Alliance’s (APGA’s) candidate, Willie Obiano, to the tribunal in Awka, to challenge the verdict of the poll.

    He spoke yesterday in Awka at an interactive session with party stakeholders in the 21 local governments.

    Nwoye said he was challenging the poll because it was fraught with irregularities.

  • Nwoye opts out of Anambra supplementary election

    …  Says, ‘Metuh on his own’

    The governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party in Anambra State, Comrade Tony Nwoye, on Tuesday said his party would not participate in Saturday’s supplementary election in some local government areas in the state.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) despite the public outcry that trailed the November 16 election had insisted that there would be supplementary election in the state.

    But the All Progressives Congress, the Labour Party and the PDP had all pulled out of Saturday’s election, leaving the All Progressives Grand Alliance as the sole party for the poll.

    Briefing reporters on Tuesday in Awka, the Tony Nwoye Campaign Organisation led by its Director General, Mr. Victor Ezenwa, said the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, is on his own on the proposed election.

    Ezenwa said, “Our candidate, Comrade Tony Nwoye has said it over and over again that he will not be part of Saturday’s supplementary and if PDP participates in the election, it means giving credibility to illegal act.

    “Metuh ought to realize the circumference of his office, he cannot continue putting words into the mouth of the PDP candidate in the state.

    “The position of our party is that we are not going to be part of the election, Metuh is on his own, what he is doing is at variance to the views of the majority of the people of Anambra State.”

     

     

  • Nwoye gets reality check

    Nwoye gets reality check

    Everyone but Tony Nwoye, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate at the botched November 16, 2013 Anambra gubernatorial polls, knew his party was not keen on contesting. Until the last minute intervention of the Supreme Court even his candidacy was not on the cards.

    Had the courts not meddled in the PDP’s strategy of backing their ally, Gov. Peter Obi’s candidate and sitting out the governorship contest – in return for a similar favour for President Goodluck Jonathan come 2015, no one at Wadata Plaza, Abuja would have shed a tear.

    So it was not surprising that while Nwoye and other aggrieved candidates were calling for cancellation of the sham of an election, his party’s spokesman, Olisa Metuh, was hailing the same as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

    An angry Nwoye was forced to ask Metuh: “Who are you really working for? Which party do you actually belong to, PDP or APGA?” That is one question we’re certain will not get a response.

    But we sympathise with the naïve candidate who is only just coming to grips with the Machavellian ways of his party’s leaders. Back in 2007 the powers-that-be wanted anyone but Senator Ifeanyi Ararume as PDP candidate for the Imo governorship election.

    Instead of taking a hint and dropping out, he stubbornly pursued his claim to the Supreme Court. There he won a pyrrhic victory because the PDP promptly expelled him. The party sat out the polls, choosing instead to help install Ikedi Ohakim then of the Peoples Progressive Alliance (PPA). The rest, as they say, is history.

    Perhaps Nwoye would turn out to be one of those fellows who learn from history. Alternatively, as he contradicts the Abuja high command he should remember that PDP is the same yesterday, today and forever.

  • Nwoye, parents’ names not on voters’ list

    Nwoye, parents’ names not on voters’ list

    The flag bearer of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the, Comrade Tony Nwoye, could not vote in yesterday in his Nsugbe home town after his name could not be found in the register.

    His parents were also unable to vote as were many other residents for a similar reason.

    Also missing in the voters register was the name of Nwoye’s political godfather, Chief Arthur Eze.

    INEC officials could not explain the omission of their names despite the affected persons brandishing their voter’s cards.

    Nwoye alleged that the disappearance of his names and others’ was pre-mediated and designed to rig him out.

    The PDP candidate said he and his parents had voted at the same polling booth in the last election and wondered how almost 70 per cent of the names in the register could disappear between then and now.

    He said he could not reach INEC boss Attahiru Jega  on phone to formally complain to him.

    Nwoye said he could only resign to fate for now.

  • Anambra poll: Court voids Nwoye’s candidacy

    The crisis over who flies the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the November 16 governorship election in Anambra State has taken a new twist.

    A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt has voided the candidacy of Mr. Tony Nwoye who emerged winner of the August 14 primary election conducted by the Ken Emeakayi- led faction of the Anambra PDP.

    The suit was filed by one of the governorship aspirants of the PDP for the Anambra election, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu in Suit No. FHC/PH/CS/296/2013 on August 28.

    Ukachukwu, through his lead counsel, Mr. Rickey Tarfa SAN, had sought the leave of the court to void Nwoye’s candidature as declared by the PDP and accepted by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

    In judgment delivered by Jusice S. A Aliyu on Tuesday, the court held that Nwoye was not eligible to participate in the August 24 primary election conducted under the supervision of Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State.

    The judge declared Ukachukwu the candidate of the PDP for the election on the ground that he was the only qualified aspirant in the said primary election.

    According to Justice Aliyu, Ukachukwu scored the highest number of votes cast at the election. He restrained Nwoye from parading himself as the candidate of the PDP for the election.

    The judge also restrained the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, leadership of the party and the INEC from presenting Nwoye as candidate for the poll.

    “It is hereby declared that based on the dictates of paragraph 4(a) of Part IV of the Electoral Guidelines for Primary Elections 2010 of the Peoples Democratic Party, the first defendant (Tony Nwoye) was not eligible to participate and or take part in the gubernatorial primary election conducted on the 24th day of August 2013 by the 2nd defendant (PDP) for the selection of its candidate for the Anambra State governorship election scheduled to hold on November 16, 2013 or another date.

    “An order of mandatory injunction is hereby made compelling the 4th defendant (INEC) to recognise, screen the plaintiff (Ukachukwu), publish and put his name on the ballot paper as the authentic candidate of the 2nd defendant (PDP) for the Anambra State governorship election scheduled to take place on November 16, 2013 or any other date,” Justice Aliyu ruled.

     

  • Uba’s, Nwoye’s supporters clash at PDP convention

    Uba’s, Nwoye’s supporters clash at PDP convention

    Supporters of the two parallel governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Anambra election, Senator Andy Uba and Mr. Tony Nwoye on Saturday  engaged in fisticuffs at the convention ground.
    Trouble started when some of Nwoye’s supporters attempted to yank Andy Uba’s younger brother, Chris off his seat. The three Uba brothers, Ugochukwu, Andy and Chris were seated next to one another.
    Incidentally, Nwoye was seated one seat away from the three brothers on the same row.
    A few of the Uba supporters resisted the attempt to drag Chris away from his seat, a development that led to exchange of blows among the supporters.

    Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah who was at the scene quietly walked away from the rowdy scene. Looking unruffled, the Uba  brothers sat quietly and watched the drama that lasted for about 20 minutes before normalcy was restored.

    One of the factional chairmen  of the Anambra chapter of the PDP, Chief Ejike Oguebego sat close to the Uba brothers; while his rival, Ken Emeakayi sat close to Nwoye.
    Andy Uba emerged the PDP candidate through a congress organised by Oguebego, while Nwoye emerged through the Emeakayi faction.
    The leadership of the PDP has given recognition to the Emeakayi faction, while the Independent National Electorsl Commission (INEC) has declared  Oguebego as the authentic chairman of the Anambra chapter of the party.