BY VINCENT UJUMADU

Even hours to the National Assembly elections, prospective voters in Anambra State remain largely ignorant of the candidates the once domineering Peoples Democratic Party, PDP is offering for the elections. All the PDP members who participated in the party primaries continue to lay claim to the three tickets of Anambra South, Anambra Central and Anambra North, thereby confusing the electorate as to who is the authentic candidate for each zone.

As at Wednesday both Dr. Andy Uba and Chief Nicholas Ukachukwu were both laying claim to the Anambra South senatorial ticket of the party and were both campaigning on the platform of the party.

In Anambra North, Senator Alphonsus Igbeke after springing another remarkable court judgment was campaigning on the platform of the party for the Saturday election alongside Mr. John Emeka who was earlier declared as the candidate of the party.

The list released by the Anambra State resident electoral commissioner, Prof Chukwuemeka Onukaogu at the INEC state headquarters in Awka contained the names of the former presidential aide, Uba, former minister of state for transport, Emeka and Mr. Ogugua Okoye for South, North and Central districts respectively That list is the line up of the court recognized state executive of the party led by Benji Udeozor who is the crony of the controversial godfather of Anambra politics, Chief Chris Uba. But barely 24 hours after the list was pasted on the wall of INEC, it was again removed from the commission’s web site.

Those that originally showed interest in the tickets were Andy Uba and Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu for Anambra South, Chief Chudi Offodile, Ambassador Jerry Ugokwe, Mr. Oguguo Okoye and Senator Annie Okonkwo who all contested for the ticket in the Central, as well as Chief John Emeka, Margery Okadigbo and Senator Alphonsus Igbeke for the North. While Senator Okonkwo has since left PDP for Accord Party where he is the candidate of the party for Anambra Central, others are still campaigning for the election on the platform of PDP.

Amidst the controversy, one of the key players, Senator Alphonsus Igbeke representing Anambra North Senatorial zone claimed that he is the authentic candidate of the party.

Igbeke, who won the senate seat last year through a Court of Appeal judgment in Enugu also dismissed his alleged arrest by the police over forgery of a court judgment.

Following Igbeke’s claim, Prince John Emeka whose name earlier appeared on the INEC list has consistently been using paid announcements on radio and television to inform the people of the zone that contrary to the claim, he remains the candidate of PDP for Anambra North. In the meantime, he is busy traversing the entire seven local government areas in the zone canvassing for votes.

Same goes for the widow of the late president of the senate, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, Mrs. Margery Okadigbo who has embarked on house to house campaign in the area.

While the PDP contenders were jostling for reckoning, Senator Joy Emodi, the candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance for Anambra North was mopping up her own campaign through a ward to ward campaign she styled as mosquito campaign!

For Anambra South, both Andy Uba and Nicholas Ukachukwu are busy campaigning and their political jingles are on the radio and television stations. The battle for the ticket of Anambra South took another dimension on Friday last week when the Federal High Court sitting in Awka ordered that Andy Uba, John Emeka, Chief Oguguo Okoye, among others, should stop parading themselves as the candidates of PDP, saying the earlier order of the court on the issue should continue. The court also ordered that INEC should not present them for the election until the case was disposed of.