Mrs Ann Agom-Eze is Governor Dave Umahi’s main challenger for the Ebonyi South Senatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 polls.
She scored the second highest votes in the first APC primary for the Ebonyi South District, which was won by Governor Umahi’s younger brother, Austin.
The party cancelled the primary and held a second one, which Governor Umahi won after the brother withdrew.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refused to recognise Umahi, prompting the governor to sue INEC at the Federal High Court in Abakaliki.
Agom-Eze has argued that since the winner of the said primary, Austin Umahi, withdrew, she should have been declared the candidate of the party as she was the only contestant left in the primary election.
In a suit she filed at the Appeal Court in Enugu she is praying the court to declare her as the authentic candidate of the party since Austin had withdrawn.
She told Sunday Sun that any other election that held after the first one was illegal and manipulated to edge her out for Governor Umahi to emerge.
In this Interview, Mrs Agom-Eze told Sunday Sun her ordeals, expulsion story, while lamenting on what she described a undue” intimidation, harassment and crude political war against her by Governor Umahi and his camp”.
She raised other critical issues, raising the alarm that Governor Umahi wants to kill her. Excerpt:
How will you react to the news that you have been expelled by your party, the All Progressives Congress in your State, Ebonyi?
That may be fake news because I have not been expelled. Nobody or the party has expelled me. I am just hearing it as a rumour. I think that is perhaps, a concoction from a drowning man. Is that how to expel someone? Are there no rules and regulations guiding such moves? Are there no procedures? Were those procedures followed or are they just working to favour somebody? I want the journalists to be asking: Is the party chairman (Stanley Emegha ) not supposed to be an unbiased umpire? Nobody has written to me that I have been suspended, I am only reading or hearing them on the news. My ward chairman who vehemently refused to accept to sign their letter, came up with his own letter to say: I am not suspending her, she has done nothing. Do you know what has happened to him? They have also said they have suspended him. Yes, the news just came out this evening (Tuesday) that they have also suspended him. So, I am waiting for somebody to write me and sign that he has suspended me on a matter that is in court. So, as far as I am concerned, it’s only my chairman that can expel me with facts of any wrong doing. You know the next thing they did after my chairman refused to succumb to their pressure to sign, they now went and gathered my people again under intense pressure and brought the press and said they should say they don’t know about it. They are forcing my people, intimidating them to do what they tell them. They now wrote a letter back-dating it and when you put things together you see that they are not falling in sequence. So, as I said I have not received any letter from anybody or quarter aside from what is flying in the social media and in some newspapers. So, I still take it as a rumour because there is no basis for my suspension as that will be a mischief and it will not stand. There are processes and procedures for such, and I do not think we are in a Banana republic where anything goes. We have laws here that must be followed and respected.
Your state Party Chairman, Stanley Emegha has called for your arrest by the police wherever they see you?
But I have been moving around, let them come and arrest me and tell the world my offence. How can they and why should they arrest me? Am I a criminal? What did I do? That I bought form to contest or that I didn’t allow the governor after his presidential bid to come back for the Senatorial seat? These are two parallel lines and everybody knows that by 2022 law, you must maintain your line. As far as I am concerned, as far as the law is concerned, the governor has used his position in this electoral year till another four years. So, asking them to arrest me is an infringement on my fundamental human right. Let the person come and arrest me. My case is in the court, I have been moving around, let the person come and arrest me, let me see, Nigerians are also watching how I am being intimidated. I was on Arise TV today (Tuesday) and I made it clear that the party chairman, the governor, they want to kill me . The whole idea behind “arrest her” what they discussed behind the scene is that when you see her shoot her on sight. What have I done to deserve all this? Is it because of my gender? If my governor is strong, why did he not go and fight Asiwaju Bola Tinubu after he lost the presidential race? He should look for his fellow man to fight? Why is he flexing muscles to fight me? Why will he want me to stop running for the ticket? And because he is a very greedy man why did he not allow his brother to hold on to the seat? I have got nothing against him, all I know is that they can write whatever they write or want to write, but I am pursuing that Senatorial seat and I am waiting for the Court of Appeal in Enugu to pronounce their judgment. What ever anybody wants should go to court. Why are they whipping up sentiment? Why are they calling people, bribing them to come against me? Why are they organising groups to say they don’t like me? Why are they trying to influence the peoples opinion? One thing they don’t know is that God is in-charge and the more they try the more they are whipping up positive sentiments for me because the people now know given their crude actions that I am being victimised for being part of a legitimate political exercise. If I were to be in his shoes, I would have ignored this woman (me) perhaps, unknown to him, he is now doing campaign for me . The road may be bumpy, but I will pull through by God’s grace because nothing takes God unawares and the people are also watching the way they are embarrassing and spoiling my identity.
The reality is that Governor Umahi has utilised his opportunity by contesting for the president of Nigeria and, therefore, cannot contest again for the Senate in this electoral year. They should stop this undue intimidation, harassment and crude political war against me because I am not going to give up.
Part of the allegation against you is that you have joined the opposition party to undermine your party?
It is not true. How? All the allegation is to give a dog a bad name to hang the dog. What is the evidence that I am romancing with the opposition group? How? Let them show evidence. I contested for the Senate in 2018, I have remained in the party as a loyal member, I have held many positions, making sure that our party, APC, is together. Will I do all these wahala to work for another individual or to squander my own opportunity? I want to represent my people for goodness sake and I have been on the project and by God’s grace the project will be actualised this time around. I am not working for anybody, I want to serve my people, that is my drive. There are certain things I may not want to react to because the case is in court, so they should go to court to table everything. As law abiding citizens, everybody should go to court. I am only reacting to the suspension and all that. There are so many allegations they are coming up with, but all are figments of their imagination. I have said it before that their action in Afikpo is a show of desperation. Being afraid of being defeated by a woman, he has decided to cut corners, thinking that is the easiest way of achieving a result he can never get. But they will fail.
Have you contacted the women group in your party concerning the perceived ill-treatment that you are getting?
I have not contacted anybody because the case is in court. I didn’t want it to go that way. We cannot be judging the case in the social media. I prefer going through the proper legal channel to seek for justice.
There was also the allegation that you demanded N20 million and a Prado jeep from the governor?
I did not demand for anything. I have already responded to that in the papers. I demanded nothing, not even a penny. Of course, you will expect that they will be concocting allegations and this may not be the last. You know that they are deperate, so they can do anything, they can concoct any lie, but as I said earlier, all are just the figment of their imagination. I will not be surprised if they slam more allegations. I am confident and sure of my facts, they are just throwing mud because they don’t have any fact or evidence in all their claims. They are all empty claims, only meant to tarnish my image, but they cannot because I am on a right track. I am reading all this from the papers, but I am not worried because its all lies and lies.
Let’s shift to other issues as readers will want to know your stand on the Muslim-Muslim ticket of your presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu. Do you think he has made a mistake on his choice of Shettima as his vice?
Please, let’s leave other questions for now. I am fighting a war that is big enough, so let me finish this first, we will talk about other political matters when we are through in the court.
So are you optimistic that you will be victorious in the court?
Yes, I am optimistic because the 2022 Electoral law has said that the only authentic primary is the one conducted on the 28th of May 2022. I am not interested in any other primary that has been done. You cannot have more than one primary in an electoral year, based on the Electoral law, I am very optimistic. My governor when he had problem with the PDP (his former party) he talked about purchasing judgment and I want to say: I hope nobody is going to purchase a judgment because that is his word. But everybody is watching , this case has become a celebrated case and everybody is watching to see what the judgment will be like. The international community is equally watching because I have equally gone to them to complain. They are also monitoring what is happening, so everybody should be very careful on the judgment of this matter. But, I have strong confidence in the judiciary that the right thing will be done
Do you feel intimidated to think that what is happening to you is because you are a woman?
It is teaching me more that you don’t pick good things on a platter of gold. As they say: Nothing good comes easy. What is going on is kind of preparing me for a bigger responsibility, it’s preparing me for the greater task ahead? What is happening is opening my eyes to so many things. It is making me realise the more that going to the Senate is not all about rubbing powder, it’s all about giving service. It has divine and spiritual teachings, I am not intimidated even though the stones are too much, but I will continue to shed them off. I am looking at the ball, I am not looking at any other thing until Court of Appeal delivers judgment. I pray that God’s will, will be done and I will be victorious. My governor has been chairman of PDP, he has been deputy governor, he has been governor, he is just having what they call entitlement mentality that it has to be him. If it is not him, it has to be his brother, or his cousin, habaa, it’s not fair that way. In Onicha local government we have not gone to the Senate, we have not had a Minister. It is our turn and Ohaozara, but Ohaozara even had a Minister. Why don’t we share these positions amicably with fairness so that peace can reign? The positions are supposed to go round. The man (Gov. Umahi) is using his whole powers on a woman, he has hired a lot of young people who are abusing me on the social media, but whatever abuse they are giving me I leave them to God to judge them. He should not equate himself to God. He should not play God. He has to watch the way he is going. The 2022 electoral process is his biggest problem and he cannot even win this. He can’t change the law. He should be a law-abiding citizen and wait for the judgment of the Appeal Court rather than resorting to intimidation and harassment.