Chief Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, Special Adviser to Governor Willie Obiano on Political Matters, has revealed why the widow of the late Igbo leader, Bianca Ojukwu, lost the primary election of the All Progressives Grand Alliance for Anambra South Senatorial District.
He said Bianca was advised not to go into the poll by the hierarchy of APGA, including Senator Victor Umeh, to save her and Ojukwu from embarrassment should the exercise end in the negative.
Obi-Okoye said both privately and publicly, Ojukwu’s widow was asked not to run but she insisted “to test her popularity”, describing her outing and failure in the poll as unfortunate.
Obi-Okoye said Bianca lost to a more experienced politician, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, who has severally run for the position of governor of Anambra State and also for the Senate.
He said, “It’s regrettable that she contested that election. She should not have. I’m sure if our leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu were alive, he would not have allowed her to contest.
“It was unnecessary for Bianca to have run. If you decide to run, you either win or lose. She did not run because she was the widow of Ojukwu, but she ran to test her popularity.
“I am not aware she was badly treated in that exercise. Looking at the primary election, the man that won is Nicholas Ukachukwu. He has been around and has been in the national assembly for Abuja and contested for governor in Hope Democratic party, PDP and ANPP in Anambra State. He is not new in politics.
“It would have been okay if the wife of our leader did not contest at all, so that the question of how she was treated would not have arisen. In this business (politics), it is quite rough; and once you come in, you expect anything to happen.”
Obi-Okoye added, “On one occasion in my presence, it was the senatorial candidate from Abia South that moved a motion for the wife of our leader to become the vice presidential candidate and everybody accepted that.
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“The motion was however not binding on the BOT of the party or on Bianca, but she stood and opposed it.
“I believe that in asking her to be the vice presidential candidate was a subtle way of telling her not to run.
“We preferred her to play a more nationalist role. I also know that in a private meeting, Senator Victor Umeh begged her not to run, but she decided to join the fray and now she is hurt about it, but we hope that soon all will be settled,” Obi-Okoye stated.
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