Former Enugu State governor Chimaraoke Nnamani has lost his reelection bid as Senator representing Enugu East, to Kelvin Chukwu of Labour Party.
Kelvin Chukwu is the brother of Oyibo Chukwu, the original candidate of the LP for Enugu East senatorial district, who was murdered days to the election.
Chukwu polled 69,136 votes to defeat Nnamani who scored 48,701 votes, ending his senatorial ambition and the potential of becoming the next senate president.
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“In the Land of the Igbo, the people have spoken. They have spoken under the influence of an unholy concoction of the 2 most powerful social “opioids.” Ethnic jingoism and Religious Extremism both powered by the trilogy of Priests,” Igbo Patriots” and vulnerable Youths,” Nnamani tweeted following the conclusion of the election.
The two–term Enugu governor also announced his resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) even though he was expelled from the party prior to the election. He said made the decision, which he made due to irreconcilable differences with the national leadership of the party, came after he has consulted with his associates and constituents.
Before the election
Nnamani’s fallout with the PDP began before the elections. The 62-year old had shifted his loyalty to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), following the emergence of Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, as the party’s presidential candidate. He also got in a rowdy public brawl with ‘Obidients’, supporters of the LP’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who he dubbed ‘Obidiends.’
His unrelenting support for Tinubu against PDP’s presidential candidate Atiku Abukakar, got the party to suspend him and eventually expelled him for antiparty activities.
Days before the election, the PDP had written INEC, asking that Nnamani’s candidacy be withdrawn as he was no longer a member of the party. But the Senator had countered the move, arguing that his removal has become a subject of litigation and also, it is against the Electoral Act to oust a candidate whose name has been duly submitted to the electoral commission.
“It is also important for the commission to note and be well guided that by the virtue of section 33 of the electoral Act, a political party cannot on its own arbitrarily remove or change its candidate whose name has been submitted and published by the commission for an election except in the event of death or withdrawal by the candidate,” Nnamani’s lawyer, Rickey Tarfa, had said in a letter to INEC.
The outcome
However, while Nnamani retained his candidacy, the people of Enugu East showed he is no longer their choice. He had boasted before the election, during an altercation with Obidients, that no one can unseat him. “Who will beat me in an election in Enugu?” He had taunted a Twitter user.
Nnamani blamed his loss on a lot of factors, including Obi, who he said has obstructed the political future of the Igbos by playing ethnic politics.
“Peter “Gringory” Obi has set the Igbo political trajectory 24 years back. He has become a twin Blight &Scourge on the Land. His devious Opium served to Christians within sections of Nigeria and to Igbo domiciled in different sections of Nigeria is wicked and dangerous,” he said.