The election of the Abia Online Media Practitioners on Friday failed to hold as planned over alleged Abia Speaker’s interference in the running of the Association.
The election which was scheduled for today was deferred to a later date over petitions against two members gunning for the Chairmanship position of the Association.
The two contestants for the Chairmanship, Comrade Paddy Anyatonwu, and Emenike Ireogbu, were both set aside because members alleged that while Emenike Ireogbu is an Aide to Abia Speaker, Comrade Paddy Anyatonwu was also alleged to be an appointee of Abia State Government.
The debate over the eligibility of the two candidates lingered for so long until the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker Abia State House of Assembly, Sir Jude Ndukwe, stormed the Evergreen Hotels along Ojike Street, Umuahia, venue for the election with a copy of a letter from the Speaker which he submitted to the ELECO.
In his submission to the ELECO, Ndukwe told the members, that the Speaker said that if Iroegbu is disqualified on grounds of being an appointee and he is screened out of the election, he will sue the ELECO to court.
Meanwhile, addressing members after a long deliberation with both Chairmanship aspirants, the ELECO Chairman, Uche Aguoru said all the petitions against the two contestants will be resolved by Tuesday next week, adding that members will be furnished with a later date for the election while calling for calm from members as no force can stop the election.
Disappointed by the motive of the current Chairman, Ugochukwu Nwankwo whose tenure ends on March 27, 2022, to impose a president on the Association, Loveday Chidi, Okechukwu Charles, Nwaokonko Stanley, Casmir Nwakanma among other members, berated the visit of the Speaker’s Aide, frowning that the Speaker has been involved in the running and decision making of the Association, promising to resist his plans.
They wondered why the Association will be influenced by the decision of the Speaker, stressing that the visit of the Speaker’s Aide informed the decision of ELECO to defer the election while wondering what the interest of the Speaker is in an Association like Abia Online Media Practitioners that is supposed to be independent.
Sources close to Ugochukwu Nwankwo and Abia Speaker revealed that the Speaker is interested to see Emenike Ireogbu emerge as the next Chairman of the Association against the wishes of the majority of the members who see him as a stooge.
https://any.peopleandpowermag.com/how-abia-assembly-speaker-disrupted-emergence-of-new-excos/
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