A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South-south has said the purported endorsement of Senator Omo-Agege by the South-south APC orchestrated by the South-south Chairman of the APC, Chief Hilliard Etta, who is an in-law of the senator (first cousin of Senator Omo Agege’s wife) is inconsequential and thus null and void.
A statement signed by the Ughelli-born politician stated that the next Deputy Senate President of the 9th Senate would be elected on the floor of the Senate, saying that “if there should be any endorsement prior to that contest, it must come from the honourable men and women of the NWC of our great party…that is the only endorsement any contestant should seek and not the narrow and biased endorsement of a section of our party.
“The action of Chief Hilliard Etta, who could not deliver any electoral seat in CRS, his home State to APC, is capable of causing disunity in our party and should be admonished by the national leadership of our party. I seek only one endorsement and that is the endorsement of our National Working Committee; not even the endorsement of the Southeast APC caucus will I accept. In the absence of the NWC endorsement, then the election of the next DSP will be resolved on the floor of the 9th Senate. Let it be known, therefore, that Orji Uzor Kalu is still a candidate for the DSP of the 9th Senate. Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria and long live the APC.”