Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and Sen. Gilbert Nnaji, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications, have won the Peoples Democratic Party primaries to contest the 2015 senatorial election in Enugu State.
Ekweremadu won the Enugu West senatorial seat after his opponent, Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, withdrew from the race in the primary conducted in Enugu on Sunday.
Nnaji, representing Enugu East senatorial zone, was returned after he secured 231 votes of the 247 accredited votes.
Nnaji’s opponents in the election, former Minister of Information, Frank Nweke (Jnr), secured two votes; Ifeoma Nwobodo, the former Chief of Staff to Chime, came last with one vote.
Nwabueze Okafor, the National President of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, secured three votes, while Everest Nnaji got two votes.
Chukwuka Utazi, the former Commissioner for Transport in the state, secured the ticket for Enugu North senatorial seat to replace Sen. Ayogu Eze, who is contesting the gubernatorial election.
The primary was monitored by Senator Anthony Manzu, who led the PDP National Assembly election panel and the representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission
Three aspirants, Nweke, Nwobodo and Okafor were absent at the primaries.
The aspirants, who sources said were aggrieved, held parallel primaries in different parts of the senatorial zone in which they emerged the party’s candidates.
In his remarks, Nnaji expressed gratitude to God for the peaceful conduct of the primary and for making it possible for him to win.
He described his election as “a great challenge” and promised to redouble his efforts to bring democratic dividends to the people of the zone.
“I will never let you down, I will go back and make sure I give good and quality representation to you,” he said.