From Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
Emmanuel “Bob” Aduku, the physically-challenged candidate who won the just-concluded APC party primary to Anpka 1 House of Assembly seat, has complained that his name is about to be substituted at the INEC office with a person who did not participate in the primary, as he called on Governor Yahaya Bello to immediately come to his rescue.
Governor Yahaya Bello had pleaded with other aspirants to step down for Adukwu so as to give a voice to the persons living with disability in the state but one of the aspirants insisted on going for the primary which made Bob Aduku defeat him with 20 votes.
Addressing reporters in Lokoja, Adukwu said he was duly screened and cleared by the party and given a letter of clearance by the party before he went into the contest and won but some people in his area have vowed that the constituency will not be represented by a physically challenged person.
The APC flag bearer said he is a registered voter, with a valid voter’s card in his constituency, but disclosed that some persons are boasting that the INEC nomination form has been given to them to fill on the pretext that his APC Membership registration was done in Lokoja.
The flagbearer said the APC Membership card is only a means of identification that identifies an individual as a bonafide member of the party and therefore appealed to Governor Bello to intervene as there are strong indications that some persons are out to frustrate his ambition
Adukwu said his traducers also alleged he hails from Omala local government so as to scuttle his ambition saying nothing can be further from the the truth as his great grandfather was a known prince in Ankpa.
While pointing out that efforts to change and replace him unconstitutionally would impact negatively on the perrson of Governor Bello, who he said matched his love for people with disabilities with action by giving him an automatic t nomination before he won the Party’s primaries and emerged as the flagbearer.
The decision to give him an automatic nomination by the governor, Adukwu explained, was occasioned by Governor Bello’s love for the disability community, adding that the gesture earned Governor Bello commendation from the disability community, with praises in national and international television stations, and that any attempt to upturn his mandate would portray the state in a bad light.
He said Governor Bello’s good works for the disability community should not be aborted, pointing out that his decision which received global applause should not be undermined, and urged the governor to caution those attempting to make a substitution of his mandate.