Atuma, who gave the warning when he visited the Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu, in his Igbere Bende Local Government Area country home, pointed out that the APC members who intended to stand for election, but had yet to resign their current political appointments were wrong.
He reminded his party of a recent court judgement on Monday that supported Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act with serious warning that government appointees should resign 30 days to the party’s primary elections.
Atuma, a former member of the House of Representatives, also cautioned that any party member that refused to respect the principle of the rule of law would always face challenges.
He said, “There was a court judgement delivered on Monday that people who are political appointees who intend to run for any elective office should resign 30 days to the election primaries.
“A lot of people in our party today have not resign their appointments in preparation to contest election. I believe that the opposition will be waiting to use it against our party after the election.
“Many of our party men were believing that the law was expunged. But that’s not the truth, as the law has been reinstated, and if that be the case, they have fallen out of the law.
“As at April 22, the sale of forms has commenced and the Electoral Act did not envisage anybody to be in office and commence the process. What that clause means is that the people that want to contest election should have resigned their appointments as at this point.
“My advice to my party is that they should be firm and those people that want to collect our form to contest election must show their resignation letter and the date of registration to avoid post-election litigations.”
On his intention to govern Abia State, the former lawmaker maintained that the state had not enjoyed the level of development other states have enjoyed.
He attributed the alleged backwardness in the state to those he called “political buccaneers” who did not see anything wrong in their activities.
Responding, the Senate Chief Whip thanked Atuma for joining the 2023 governorship race. Kalu stated that he would support a serious aspirant who could reintroduce free education to Abia State to reduce the burden of parents.
He disclosed that other aspirants had visited him and said he expected more aspirants to show up.
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