From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Frontline governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State, Dr Obiora Okonkwo, has dispelled rumours that he had been disqualified from the race by his party.
There were rumours that the PDP would be zoning its governorship ticket to Anambra South Senatorial Zone which inadvertently meant that the governorship door had been shut against Okonkwo.
But speaking with reporters in his country home in Ogidi, Idemmili North Local Government Area of the state, Okonkwo, who hails from Anambra Central, made it clear that his party, the PDP, has not zoned the governorship ticket.
He said that those afraid of his towering influence and popularity were the ones peddling the rumours which he described as very laughable. He said the rumours of the zoning was false and made it clear that he was still strongly in the race.
“There are some elements who are in PDP and being sponsored to make such publication that PDP is zoning the governorship position, but that is not true.
“We know who their sponsors are, and if they don’t desist, we will reveal their identity. What is the truth is that those people are afraid of me, so they want PDP to field a weak candidate, to make it easy for PDP to lose the election.
“I am still in the race and strongly in the race too. A candidate can only emerge through a free and fair primary election and not through propaganda and falsehood. This is a new PDP and there is no room for such behaviour”, he stated.
Continuing, Okonkwo said: “Yes, the issue of zoning remains the way it is. The position has never been zoned before. There has never been a time when it was zoned. So, I am still in the race, and we are contesting to win.”