Those Claiming Anambra Election Won’t Hold Are Lying, Says Ezeife

Former Anambra State Governor, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, speaks during an interview which aired on Channels Television’s Newsnight on October 25, 2021.

Former Anambra State Governor, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, has said that those claiming the governorship election in Anambra won’t hold are lying.

There has been palpable fear in the south-east region following the deteriorating state of insecurity with many scared that the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State will not hold.

But Ezeife who spoke during an interview on Channels Television’s Newsnight faulted those working against the scheduled poll in the state, saying their intention is to mislead the people.

He equally alleged that some people within the system were colluding with outsiders to unleash mayhem in the South-East.

“The issue of those people saying there will be no election in Anambra State is a lie intended to mislead (the people),” he said.

The ex-governor noted that the phrase ‘unknown gunmen’ started after the April 5 attack on the Nigerian Correctional Services and the Police Headquarters in Imo State, where gunmen freed several prison inmates.

Following the attack that left at least a policeman dead, Ezeife recalled how the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma said more than 70 per cent of the attackers were not easterners.

Speaking further, he regretted that five months after the attack, the gunmen again struck in Anambra by killing Chike Akunyili, husband of the late boss of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dora Akunyili.

He added, “Remember when the incident in Owerri Prison happened when the unknown gunmen started, those people who were the unknown gunmen, Governor Hope Uzodinma said more than 70 per cent of them were not from the east,” he said.

“That happened months before Nnamdi Kanu came back, now the Akunyuli case. My own people saw it happen.

“My PA, driver and the other people who saw this thing happen never saw any group of people claiming responsibility or saying there will be no election. I cannot clearly say that nobody from IPOB is responsible. There are bad people everywhere, there may have been people especially at the beginning who acted violently and those people may be from Anambra.”