A dispute is raging in the African Democratic Congress in Ebonyi over who should be the party’s governorship candidate.
Professor Ernest Uchenna Ereke insists he is the candidate after winning a replacement primary on September 16.
He said the party’s previous candidate, Mba Ude Collins, withdrew from the race and completed the necessary paperwork required by electoral law.
Ereke said the party notified INEC of the vacancy and held a replacement primary which he won.
He expects his name to appear on INEC’s final list of candidates, expected later in September.
But the ADC state leadership rejected Ereke’s emergence. Led by Dr Jennifer Adibe and Mgboroko Chukwudi, the state executive committee said no replacement primary was authorised by them and reaffirmed Tobias Nnabuike Oriji as the party’s candidate.
The dispute adds to confusion because ADC released a list on September 4 naming Ukpai Mba Udeh as the Ebonyi candidate.
Now three different names are being claimed.
Ereke dismissed the competing claims as part of growing political activity within the party and said they have not discouraged him or his supporters.
He says the competing claims show the increasing attention the ADC is attracting.
INEC has set February 6, 2027 for the governorship election.
