By Olayinka Owolabi
The Peoples Democratic Party, Anambra State chapter, has suspended its candidate in the just-concluded governorship election, Mr. Jude Ezenwafor.
The Chairperson of the PDP in the state, Chidi Chidebe, said the decision to suspend Mr Ezenwafor was taken at the end of the party’s State Executive Committee meeting in Awka on Tuesday.
The Blaze Newspaper gathered that Ezenwafor was at the Light House, Awka, the seat of government of the state, congratulating the governor of the state, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, over his victory in the election, while the state executive committee of the party was meeting at the party’s Secretariat to ratify his suspension.
Mr Chidebe, who read out a communiqué released at the end of the meeting, said the suspension of the governorship candidate, which took immediate effect, will last for a period of one month.
The Chairman said their candidate, Ezenwafor, immediately after picking the party’s ticket, quickly went incommunicado, refusing to hold meetings or rallies, but later announced that he had been attacked and shot in Abuja.
The communique read “The Anambra State Governorship Election has come and gone, and the general atmosphere during the election was largely peaceful, and both the conduct and outcome were, to a reasonable extent, transparent.
“However, the Anambra State Executive Committee had earlier expressed deep concerns over the disturbing conduct of our governorship candidate, Mr. Jude Ezenwafor.
“The State Executive Committee, in our usual character of respect for constituted authorities, swallowed all his bitter pills, avoided confrontation, and patiently managed his conduct until the conclusion of the election,” he said.
“Ultimately, his actions during and after the election completely vindicated our earlier concerns.”
The PDP chairperson also said Mr Ezenwafor scored only one vote in his ward, Nnobi Ward 3, while his running mate polled 71 in his unit, 004-Otuocha Ward 1, as against 77 votes for the incumbent governor.
“This abysmal performance represents the worst result for PDP in any ward across the state and clearly exposes his lack of character, credibility, and commitment to both the party and the election,” he said of the candidate.
“In light of the above, and after due deliberation, the State Executive Committee has resolved that Mr Jude Ezenwafor is hereby suspended from PDP for a period of one month with immediate effect.
The Party therefore called on the FCT police command to investigate claims by the candidate that he was shot, saying that all along, he never stayed in the hospital.
