National Chairman of the National Rescue Movement Amb. Isaac Chigozie Udeh has denied substituting the former presidential candidate of the party, Mazi Okwudili Anyajike, for the sum of N100 million.
According to the Udeh, Anyajike was substituted with another candidate for his alleged indebtedness to the party and his lack of seriousness in the pursuit of his aspiration.
In a telephone chat with our reporter on Sunday, Udeh stated out of the N19 million for the purchase of expression of interest and nomination forms, Anyajike only paid the sum of N5 million and did not care to offset the rest.
The NRM national chairman explained that the presidential candidate had reneged his promise to pay the sum of N300,000 for delegates feeding, accommodation and transportation at the party’s convention.
He disclosed that he was only able to pay some of them N100,000 each after the party gave him a loan of N1.5 million, adding that it took him two months to balance the payment to some of them.
The NRM national chairman noted that it was a collective decision by the party to substitute Anyajike who he said the party saw as ‘very unserious’ in the pursuit of his aspiration.
He stated that the new presidential candidate Rev Johnson Osakwue is a general overseer of a globally known church with branches in many countries, saying that the party did not collect a dime from him before giving him the ticket.
He admitted, as alleged by Anyajike, that the party had approached Kingsley Moghalu and Senator Rochas Okorocha to bear the party’s flag but Anyadike’s threat had intimidated Moghalu out of the race while Okorocha declined.
He said, “Anyajike’s problem is that he continues to deceive himself. He is a liar and a mockery to the party. His problem is that he could not achieve what he targeted to achieve with the ticket. Our members were seriously looking for a candidate to substitute him because he appeared ‘unserious'”, Amb. Udeh said.
The former presidential candidate, Mazi Okwudili Anyajike had accused the national chairman Isaac Udeh and the national organising secretary Mohammed Dirisu of selling off his mandate to one Pastor Johnson Osakwue.
“I was elected presidential candidate June 2 2022 by overwhelming victory of 180 out of 280 votes cast by delegates from all all over the country, witnessed and monitored by INEC and DSS. After the primaries I was issued with certificate of return.
“However the party national chairman and the national organising secretary started misbehaving trying to compel me to sell my ticket to somebody who was going to give us N100million.”
On what he intends to do, he said people who perpetrated the act as well as their INEC collaborators would be taken to court. They must put my name back because there was no primary conducted for that guy.”
