Ereke insists on Ebonyi ADC Guber Ticket, Launches Grassroots Engagements
Onyeka Nnabu
The governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Ebonyi State,l Prof. Ernest Uchenna Ereke has insisted that he emerged as the party’s governorship candidate through a replacement primary conducted on September 16.
Ereke, a Professor of Political Economy, Governance and Development at the University of Abuja, spoke on Thursday in Abakaliki after meeting with ADC stakeholders from across the state, saying he was awaiting the final list of governorship candidates to be released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
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He said the replacement primary followed the withdrawal of the party’s earlier governorship candidate, Mba Ude Collins, who, according to him, formally communicated his decision to quit the race and completed the necessary affidavit required under the electoral process.
Ereke said the party subsequently notified INEC o the vacancy and constituted an electoral committee to conduct a replacement primary.
He stated: “Mba Ude Collins willingly wrote that he was no longer interested in the race, and he swore to the necessary affidavits as required by the Electoral Act. He did all of that and informed the party.
“The party, of course, informed INEC of the withdrawal of its governorship candidate from the state. And because there is a window within the INEC guideline to replace candidates, the party set up an electoral committee.”
According to him, the ADC national leadership also notified INEC that a replacement governorship primary would be conducted on September 16, following the withdrawal of the previous candidate.
Ereke maintained that his emergence was the outcome of that process, adding that the party had also conducted replacement primaries for some State House of Assembly positions.
He said, “The party at the national level wrote to INEC that we would be conducting a replacement primary to elect another governorship candidate, since Mba Ude Collins already withdrew from the race. And that was what the party did yesterday.”
The professor said he was confident that his name would appear on the commission’s final list of governorship candidates, which he expected to be released later in September.
“I await the release of the final list of governorship candidates, probably on the 28th or 29th of this month. And I assure you that you would find my name there as the potential governorship candidate of the ADC in Ebonyi State for the 2027 general elections,” he said.
Ereke also dismissed reports of competing claims to the ADC governorship ticket as part of the political activities accompanying ADC Crisis: Ereke insists on Ebonyi guber ticket, awaits INEC list
DemocracyNewslineNewspaper, September 18,2026
