Ebonyi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday said that the recent omission of the name of the Ebonyi State governor, Chief David Umahi in the released list of senatorial candidates in the state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was a minor mistake that has been corrected.
In an interview with journalists in Abakaliki, the state chairman of the party, Chief Stanley Emegha who called on party faithful to remain calm noted that it was erroneous for anyone to allege that he wrote to the commission, rather he visited the commission’s office to clarify issues concerning the re-conducted primaries.
The governor’s name was surprisingly missing in the list of senatorial candidates from Ebonyi published by INEC.
The clarification was coming on the heels of a media publication of purported letter written by the state chairman alleging that a letter was written to the commission to immediately recognise David Umahi as Ebonyi South APC senatorial candidate.
The APC chairman, according to the letter insisted that Gov Umahi was duly elected in a primary election observed by INEC and security agencies within the timeline allowed by INEC for party primaries.
He said, “It was wrong to say that the party wrote a letter, I personally went to the commission’s office. It was a minor error from the INEC side and it has been corrected.
“There was nothing like writing a letter. All the necessary things were done. INEC officials were present when the two candidates that contested for those senatorial elections stepped down.
“INEC was invited for the re-conduction of the primaries because there was enough time for the party to re-conduct another primary election that will usher in another person. And the time was actually meet, the re-conduction of the election was done”.