The Henry Ikoh Governorship Campaign Organisation has rejected the result of the Abia APC governorship primary election held on Thursday.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the APC declared a renowned businessman, Eric Opah, as the winner of its governorship primary for the 2027 general elections.
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The Returning Officer and Chairman of the APC Governorship Primary Election Committee, Bartho Nyelong, announced the result at the APC secretariat in Umuahia on Thursday night.
According to the result, Mr Opah polled 126,977 votes to defeat his closest rival, the former Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Mr Ikoh, who secured 5,905 votes.
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‘It’s a sham’
However, in a statement issued in Umuahia on Friday, the Henry Ikoh Governorship Campaign Organisation described the result as a “sham” and inconsistent with the party’s internal agreements.
The statement, entitled “The sham called Abia APC Governorship Primary Election and the purported results announced cannot stand,” was signed by the organisation’s Director-General, Ikedi Ezekwesiri, a two-time member of the Abia State House of Assembly.
It stated that the declaration of Eric Opah as winner was “strange, unacceptable, provocative and inconsistent with the established consensus arrangement reached by the majority of the party’s State Working Committee (SWC).
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“It is incongruous with the rules and guidelines of our party for a clique of desperate politicians to usurp the duties of the party and jettison the laid-down procedures in the APC Constitution to massage their inglorious ego.
“Any result generated from a faulty procedural foundation cannot stand,” the statement added.
It insisted that 13 of the 18 SWC members had earlier adopted Mr Ikoh as the party’s consensus governorship candidate, following the withdrawal of one of the aspirants, Mascot Kalu, from the race.
It maintained that the endorsement reflected the collective will of critical party stakeholders, who believed Mr Ikoh had the political capacity, experience, acceptability, and grassroots appeal required to reposition the party, ahead of 2027.
“The sudden emergence of a different outcome after a clear consensus had been reached raises serious questions about transparency, credibility, and respect for internal democratic agreements within the party,” the statement added.
The organisation argued that consensus is a recognised mechanism within the APC and questioned why the position reached by a clear majority of SWC members would be discarded without due consultation or broad-based agreement.
It warned that any attempt to impose candidates against the collective decision of stakeholders could trigger avoidable disaffection and undermine efforts to reposition APC as a formidable opposition in Abia.
“Our principal remains committed to party discipline, unity, and democratic principles.
“However, we cannot accept a process that appears to disregard the clearly expressed position of the majority of the party leadership in the state,” the statement added.
‘It will not stand’
The organisation alleged “foul play in the declaration of Opah as winner”, and claimed that Mr Ikoh, the former Minister of State for Science and Technology, remained the popular choice of party members across the state.
It disclosed that it had begun the process of formally petitioning the APC national leadership to review what it termed “the controversial and questionable declaration”.
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It expressed confidence that the national leadership would act in the interest of justice, fairness, and internal democracy to prevent what it described as “a dangerous precedent, capable of weakening party cohesion in Abia”.
While urging supporters to remain calm and law-abiding, the organisation maintained that Mr Ikoh remained “the authentic consensus choice of the majority of APC stakeholders” in the state.
“Let me assure APC members in Abia and our teeming followers that what happened yesterday (Thursday) was a charade and will not stand,” the statement added.
(NAN)
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