IBUKUNOLUWA KING-OKUNEYE
Ebonyi State Labour Party governorship candidate in the forthcoming 2023 elections, Splendour Oko Eze has denied collecting a bribe from the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the state, Francis Nwifuru.
Oko-Eze, who hails from Afikpo North Local Government Area of the state, spoke to journalists in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State in response to rumors that he collected N20 million from Nwifuru.
Persons believed to be loyalists to Edward Nkwagu, Oko-Eze’s rival in the state LP, had accused him of picking the LP ticket in error and collecting money from the APC candidate in the state to allegedly frustrate the party from winning election in the forthcoming general elections.
The said Oko-Eze “picked the Labour Party’s governorship ticket earlier before the owners of the party decided to cede the ticket to Edward Nkwagu who’s from Ebonyi North zone, believed to be the appropriate place the ticket of the party should go to in order to garner votes and formidable structure ahead of the 2023 elections.”
Speaking further they claimed, “Splendour Oko-Eze by all standards is said to not have the capacity to win the election even at his own polling booth. However, in line with the new electoral act, he’s at liberty to cede the ticket to someone else or retain it. But his clinging to the ticket so tightly is not without a purpose of self-aggrandisement.
“There’s intelligence that exposed him as reaching a deal with the APC gubernatorial candidate in the state. The intelligence confirms that he bargained with the forces at the sum of N20 million.”
But in his response, Oko Eze slammed Nkwagu and accused him of trying to use intimidation and cheap blackmail to forcefully collect the LP ticket from him.
He said, “This is propaganda and the handiwork of Edward Nkwagu because I refused to withdraw for him.
“It’s not true. Edward Nkwagu is doing everything to tarnish my image because I refused to bow to his intimidation.”