Senator Victor Umeh, representing Anambra State, has dismissed allegations that aspirants were extorted during the NDC’s nomination process, saying those making the claims were the ones who tried to bypass official procedures by paying money to certain individuals.
Umeh said in an interview from 20:19 with Arise TV, “People who were interested bought expression-of-interest forms, got into the process, and some of them are now coming out to make wild allegations that they paid money, that they were extorted. If somebody took money from you that was not official, why would you blame the party? The party prescribed the official fees you are to pay. If you say you paid somebody 50 million naira unofficially, you are the one who was trying to cheat the system. You did not want to go through the proper process. You wanted to buy your way, and when your fingers got burned, you ran to the television,” he said.
The senator acknowledged that the arrival of Peter Obi and Kwankwaso drew a large wave of new entrants into the NDC from across the country, and said it was inevitable that some would come with ulterior motives.
He stressed that membership of a political party does not guarantee victory, and that those who joined the NDC did so freely and of their own accord. According to Umeh, anyone who entered the process hoping to manipulate it and walked away empty-handed had no legitimate grounds to cry foul or stir up discord within the party.