By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-Chief) @CelestineOkaf11
Former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, has described as low-level fiction and outright fake story, a trending social media news report, purporting that, he, in alliance with some influencial political leaders of Nkanu land in Enugu state were involved in discreet political plot to truncate the ambition of the Labour Party gubernatorial candidate, Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, from emerging as governor of Enugu state in 2023 elections.
Nnamani, a top leader in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in his brief reaction to the allegation which he made available to NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper at the weekend, said the issues raised in the alleged report are unknown to him as he presided no meeting whatsoever, as claimed in the 'false story'.
Nnamani stated that: "I don’t know what the article is talking about. I presided over no meeting as claimed by the false story. I’ve not seen many of the folks mentioned in the story this year. That is fake story trending!"
However, a news report emerged on social media platforms at the weekend, alleging that the former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani; a former governor of Enugu state and current Senator representing Enugu East in the Senate, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Enugu state for the 2023 polls, Barrister Peter Mbah, held secret meetings recently on how to influence the courts to throw out Chijioke Edeoga as Labour Party flagbearer in the state and declare his opponent at the primary, Chief Everest Nnaji (popularly known as Odengene) as the authentic candidate of the party for the governorship election.
Other people mentioned in the said report to have attended the said meeting are: Dr Ben Nwoye, a former Enugu state chairman of the APC; Chief Onyemuche Nnamani, a former Secretary to the Government of Enugu state in the early part of Chimaroke Nnamani administration as Enugu governor in 1999; Sir Chris Chinyeaka Ohaa, a former permanent secretary of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and a PDP gubernatorial aspirant; Deacon Okey Ogbodo and Barrister Ifeanyi Nwoga.
Among the allegations against these men, is that they resolved at their said meeting to donate billions of money to influence the courtin order to nullify the candidacy of Hon Chijioke Edeoga.
The said news report states as follows:
"Nnamani, Mbah, Odengene, Others Hold Secret Meeting to Stop Edeoga
Donate billions to influence court
By Johnson Anikwe
"Jittery over the growing popularity of the Labour Party governorship candidate in Enugu State, Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, some influential sons of Nkanu land in different political parties have mapped out strategies for stopping the LP candidate.
"At a secret meeting presided over by former Senate President Dr. Ken Nnamani, recently, the stakeholders expressed fear that if Hon. Edeoga was not stopped, either by hook or crook, he would win the governorship election in March 2023.
"According to an insider who refused to speak for attribution, among the resolutions reached at the meeting was that highly-placed people should explore all their contacts in the judiciary and in Labour Party to ensure that Hon. Edeoga is replaced with Evarest Nnaji (popularly known as "Odengene"). If possible, Labour Party should be disqualified from participating in the 2023 governorship election in Enugu State, they agreed.
"In particular, Senator Ken Nnamani boasted that he would use his contacts across the country to ensure that Labour Party is disqualified from participating in the election, just as he used his contact to stop the trial of Sir Christian Chinyeaka Ohaa by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
"They also resolved to donate billions of naira to 'Odengene' so he could accomplish his mission of replacing Hon. Edeoga through the court. They resolved, however, that if "Odengene" succeeded in the court, he should abscond or withdraw from participating in the governorship election to pave way for Peter Mbah of the PDP to win. They boasted that since they could buy Ugwuanyi as a governor from Nsukka, other Nsukka people who are supporting Hon. Edeoga would be bought with money on the day of the election.
"Among the stakeholders who attended the meeting were Sen. Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, Barr. Ifeanyi Nwoga, Dr. Ben Nwoye, Barr. Peter Mbah, Sir Christian Chinyeaka Ohaa, Chief Evarest Nnaji ("Odengene"), Barr. Onyemuche Nnamani, and Deacon Okey Ogbodo.
"In a response, a supporter of Hon. Edeoga, Chief Greg Ugwu, said: "The truth is that God is on the throne and every plot against Hon. Barr. Chijioke Edeoga will fail." NNL.
