Mr Tony Onyeanwuala, the Returning Officer for the All Progressive Congress (APC) primary election in Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency, has announced the indefinite postponement of the exercise.
Reports have it that the exercise, which was scheduled for Friday, was not held , following the alleged disappearance of the election material.
In an interview with our correspondent Umuahia, Onyeanwuala said the election could not hold because the materials were carted away to an unknown destination.
He attributed the incident to “an interested party”, whose identity was not disclosed.
He said that all was set for the exercise and that the delegates, party and INEC officials waited until 4pm for the materials to no avail, hence the decision to postpone it to a date to be announced later.
“We called off the exercise when the materials could not arrive at the venue by 4pm,” Onyeanwuala said.
He declined to speak on the circumstances under which the materials were hijacked on the ground that he had yet to make a formal report on the incident to the party executive.
Onyeanwuala said the party leadership would meet on the matter and decide on a new date for the exercise.
According to him, the primary election in the constituency will hold on a later date.
Our correspondent reports that the contestants include Mrs Mary Ikoku, a former aide to former NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Dora Akunyili, Rev. Daniel Imoh and Mr Iroh Orji.
In a statement issued in Arochukwu and made available to our correspondent, Ikoku urged the leadership of the party “to do the needful and conduct the primary election”.
She warned “any imposter trying to hijack the process to desist from his undemocratic plans”.
She stated that only a free, fair and credible election would produce a popular APC candidate that would win the 2023 poll in the constituency.