A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, warned immediate past Commissioner for Environment in Enugu State, Honourable Chijioke Edeoga, to stop parading himself as the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the State after the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had nullified his nomination.

HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, decried “Mr. Edeoga’s apparent total disrespect for a binding decision of the Federal High Court which annulled his emergence as winner of the Labour Party’s gubernatorial primary, after he lost out at the PDP's Governorship primary election in Enugu State.”

The group said Edeoga’s granting of a media interview as Labour Party’s Enugu Governorship Candidate, “days after he has been impeached legally is unfortunate, reprehensible and unlawful.”

It also blasted Edeoga for attacking Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi by describing the present state of roads within Nsukka township and other parts of the state as the worst in the history of the state, wondering if he would have made that statement if he had emerged as the Governorship candidate of the PDP – the party that practically brought him to limelight, including the last seven unbroken years that he served Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as his Commissioner and a trusted ally.

Edeoga, a former Commissioner for Environment, had contested the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but lost to Peter Mbah. He would later join the Labour Party, following his defeat even after he reportedly agreed to work for the emergence of the PDP’s candidate who defeated him in a transparent primary election.

Onwubiko, in the statement, said: “Chijioke Edeoga’s conduct is highly reprehensible in all entirety, both morally and politically. How an individual who was a cabinet member of an administration for about seven years would turn back and rubbish everything done by the same administration all in the name of politics, is a question begging for answers. This might be termed by analysts as a gross challenge of character and this is irritating.

“Chijioke Edeoga claims the roads are bad in Enugu. Let us assume but not concede he is right, then, should we then conclude that he is guilty by association given that he worked closely for 7 years under the same administration and had represented the governor in many national and local public events? Given that he occupied a top job that touches also on road infrastructure, is he Chijioke Edeoga indicting himself for alleged unexecuted projects and uncompleted ones because he occupied a strategic role as Environment Commissioner under the Ugwuanyi government for about seven years? This his new found role as an independent critic of his political boss only because he couldn't be railroaded as the successor of his boss in the office of governor of Enugu State, is to say the least self-serving and an attempt at scoring cheap and unearned publicity.

“Now, that his candidacy has been voided lawfully by a competent court of law, HURIWA calls on Labour Party to call the emergency party member and the new 'opportunistic critic' to order to quit parading himself as the party’s governorship candidate in Enugu for now so that the sanctity of the judicial system of government in line with the provision of section 6 of the Constitution is adhered to and upheld by all and sundry.

“Political parties should not give their platforms to men and women manifesting tendencies that aren’t too far from lawlessness. Or does the Labour Party lack character, consistency and credibility? If he back-stabbed Ugwuanyi, who says he won’t do the same to his new-found party? This is indeed shocking.”

HURIWA said it was doing this criticism because of its avowed commitment to consistently act as watchdogs for the society to ensure that prominent citizens abide by the Principle of Rule of law and to stop Nigeria from sliding into anarchy and lawlessness.

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