- Senator Athan Nneji Achonu of the Labour Party urged support for his governorship candidacy in Imo State’s November 11 election
- He emphasized his confidence in winning despite distractions from legal disputes affirming his candidacy
Senator Athan Nneji Achonu of the Labour Party (LP) has urged people to support him ahead of the November 11 governorship election in Imo State, saying it is not too late for him to campaign and win.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday evening in Abuja, Achonu, who was reacting to a Supreme Court ruling affirming his candidacy for the Labour Party and the party’s leadership led by Barrister Julius Abure, said that while the court case, which was not about him, was a distraction, he was confident of winning the election.
With this, I want to call on the people of Imo State to remove all doubts and work for our success. I won a free and fair primary contest. I have been concentrating on my campaign. I want to make it clear to the Imo people that I am the candidate of the Labour Party and they should continue to campaign for me.
I am making this call to the Imo people to come out and campaign and take back their state because of the distractions some people created. It is a simple matter that people can just call INEC and confirm the authentic person who is the candidate.
Some people went to the Federal High Court; their cases were thrown out. They went for an appeal and the same thing happened. They went to the Supreme Court and the cases have finally been thrown out. Their cases have all been dismissed. They are seeking to confuse Imo people, Achonu said.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party has celebrated the Supreme Court’s dismissal of an appeal brought before it by one Basil Maduka against the party on the grounds of locus standi over the party’s rightful candidate in the Imo State governorship election.
A panel of five justices led by Iyang Okoro also warned the appellant for abusing the court process and wasting the time of the lower courts.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Lamidi Apapa-led candidate, Joseph Ukaegbu, alias Ikenga, were the other respondents in the case, and their request for a consequential order was also denied by the Supreme Court.