Crisis looms in Imo APC as assembly aspirants accuse party, Uzodimma of ‘handpicking’ candidate

An aspirant for the Ahiazu-Mbaise Constituency seat in the Imo State House of Assembly, Obinna Ezechukwu, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of handpicking a woman as a candidate after allegedly extorting him and five other aspirants for the ticket.

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In a video clip that surfaced on Instagram on Wednesday, Mr Ezechukwu alleged that the APC extorted him and other aspirants by selling nomination and expression of interest forms, and then imposed a female candidate on the constituency.

“We were six aspirants that purchased forms from Ahiazu-Mbaise and we spent over N10 million each in processing the forms. The party gave us hope that there would be an open primary.

“While we were preparing ourselves for the exercise, we heard that a woman who failed the House of Representatives primary had been selected as the candidate for Ahiazu-Mbaise State Assembly seat,” he said.

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Mr Ezechukwu, who rejected the emergence of the woman, claimed that, apart from N10 million for the forms, he spent over N100 million on his primary campaign, which was not held.

He alleged that the candidate emerged without party primaries or a consensus arrangement among the contenders.

“There was nothing like (a) consensus agreement. No meeting with the governor, nor the state party chairman. All we heard was that the winner has emerged,” he said without mentioning the candidate’s name.

The aspirant contended that the APC denied other aspirants a fair contest. He argued that he was qualified to fly the party’s flag for the constituency seat election.

He called on the APC leaders in the state to intervene to prevent an avoidable crisis in the party.

“I’m calling on the party and the governor of Imo state, who is the head of the party, to do the right thing and provide an opportunity for all the aspirants to test their popularity in the field.

“Anything short of this is unacceptable by me. I cannot spend over N100 million just to be discarded in this manner because I’m in the APC. This is ridiculous. This is unacceptable,” he said.

Although Mr Ezechukwu did not mention names, PREMIUM TIMES established that the APC has recognised Doris Anyanwu as the party’s candidate for the Ahiazu-Mbaise Constituency ahead of the 2027 general election.

Ms Anyanwu is an ally of Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State. In 2020, Mr Uzodimma appointed Ms Anyanwu as one of his special advisers.

‘There was no primary; Uzodimma selected, who never contested’

Another APC aspirant for the Ahiazu-Mbaise Constituency, Victorine Nwankwo, has corroborated Mr Ezechukwu’s claims.

Ms Nwankwo, in a video clip circulating since Thursday, claimed that Ms Anyanwu never declared an interest nor contested for the APC’s ticket in the constituency.

She claimed that Ms Anyanwu only unsuccessfully contested in the Ahiazu-Mbaise Federal Constituency primary of the party, which Chukwudi Anyanwuocha won.

The state assembly aspirant said she was the only woman among the six aspirants for the constituency ticket, and that, unlike Ms Anyanwu, she publicly declared her interest in the seat in her ward and local government area.

“My colleagues (aspirants) who bought forms did the same thing too. But the lady they gave the ticket to, called Doris (Anyanwu), did not declare (her interest in the seat) either in the ward or the local government area.

“The only thing we knew was that she was vying for the House of Representatives seat, not the House of Assembly seat. She bought forms for the House of Representatives but later failed in the primaries,” she said.

Ms Nwankwo claimed that Governor Uzodimma had told the aspirants to mobilise their supporters ahead of the party primaries, which she and other aspirants did.

“We waited eagerly for the primaries, but unfortunately, it was a selection. There was no primary election,” she said.

The aspirant narrated that, on the day scheduled for the primary election, she had phoned the chairperson of the APC in the Ahiazu-Mbaise Local Government Area, who informed her that he was headed to the party’s state secretariat to bring materials for the exercise.

“But we were so surprised when he later told us that there’s a list from the governor and that whosoever that was in the list would be taken to the field and declared winner of the primary. He said others should not come out.

“We were shocked; we were disappointed. Up till today, the trauma and shock is still in me,” she said.

Displaying her nomination form, Ms Nwankwo claimed that she had been a “faithful member” of the APC since 2017 and it was improper that she was treated unfairly in a party where she had contributed “heavily” to.

“After doing all those things, I was rejected by my governor. Had it been there was a primary and maybe she defeated me at the primary, I would have been the first to congratulate her.

“But the governor gave her a ticket for the House of Assembly without holding primaries,” she said.

“He (governor) gave her (Ms Anyanwu) form in the government house for her to fill and declared her the winner.”

The aspirant dismissed comments by some APC leaders in Imo who argued that the party’s decision is supreme.

“The party will be supreme only when they do the right thing. Not when the members of the party are being betrayed, and the faithful members are being neglected,” she said.

APC reacts

Ogui Nwachukwu, the spokesperson to Governor Uzodimma, did not respond to several calls and a text message seeking his comment on the allegations against the governor.

On their part, the APC in Imo has dismissed allegations of picking a candidate without organising primaries for aspirants.

In a statement on Wednesday, the APC spokesperson in Imo State, Jones Onwuasoanya, said the party did not extort anyone and that all aspirants only paid official fees for the purchase of Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms as well payment for “handling charges.”

“The party denies knowledge of any other payment by any aspirant to the party or its officials or staff,” he said.

Mr Onwuasoanya also denied allegations that the APC imposed Ms Anyanwu as the party’s candidate for the Ahiazu-Mbaise Constituency.

“The party conducted a Direct Primary election for the House of Assembly nomination for Ahiazu-Mbaise, as it did across the 27 state constituencies of the state, and party members queued behind their preferred aspirants and the aspirant with the highest number of votes was declared the winner and the flagbearer of our party for the constituency,” he claimed.

The spokesperson argued that, contrary to claims, Ms Anyanwu indeed purchased forms from the APC for the constituency.

“The claim by this individual is therefore false,” he said.

He contended that the APC in the state provided an avenue for dissatisfied aspirants to make their complaints through the Screening Appeal and Primary Election Appeal Panels, which sat at the party’s state secretariat within a specified period, but the aspirants did not utilise the window to submit any petition to the party.

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“Having failed to utilise this window, we advise him to explore other internal mechanisms to seek redress for whatever he felt had gone wrong, as the party will not condone utterances that aim to malign the party’s image and reputation before the public,” he said, referring to Mr Ezechukwu.

PREMIUM TIMES contacted Mr Onwuasoanya on Friday and asked him to respond to Ms Nwankwo’s allegations of the governor’s involvement in the emergence of Ms Anyanwu as well as the exclusion of other aspirants in the controversial primary.

The APC spokesperson again refuted the allegations, explaining that although Mr Uzodimma is the party’s leader in the state, he was not involved in the exercise.

“Governor Uzodimma did not give Doris Anyanwu a form to fill. She (Ms Anyanwu) bought her forms while the form was still on sale.

“The governor is the leader of the party, but he did not intervene or try to impose candidates on the party at any level,” he said, insisting that Ms Anyanwu “transparently” won the primary.

Mr Onwuasoanya admitted that Ms Anyanwu had purchased APC forms for the Ahiazu-Mbaise Federal Constituency seat, but added that she withdrew from the race before the exercise to seek the assembly ticket.

Our reporter asked Mr Onwuasoanya to react to Ms Nwankwo’s allegations that the APC Chairperson of the Ahiazu-Mbaise Local Government Area reportedly told her that the governor gave out a list of his chosen candidate for the party’s ticket in the constituency.

“It is not correct. The local government chairman could not have told her that. The governor didn’t have a list for the election. No list favoured aspirants.

“The only list we had was the list of the aspirants who went through screening and were cleared to participate in the primaries,” he responded.