Cllr Ezeajughi in his Mayoral robes
It was announced on March 21st that the Governor of Anambra State, Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo. had appointed Stonebridge councillor and former Brent Mayor Ernest Ezeajughi, as the Chief of Staff of his administration and that Ernest would be relocating to Nigeria. LINK
The news took Brent Labour by surprise, only hearing about it from a magazine article, and they spent some time trying to contact him. With the April 5th deadline looming for signed nomination papers to be submitted to the Civic Centre, there was a flurry of activity on March 31st, three working days before the deadline, and Labour's London Region got involved. They arranged to re-interview him for the nomination that evening.
He was late for the re-interview and it took place without him. The panel decided that following his appointment he would not be able to carry out his role as councillor if re-elected and that it was against the rules not to live in the borough he serves.
Additionally Labour was worried that when it was revealed that he was not living in the borough an embarassing by-election would result - not for the first time.
Fearing that they would not be able to field an alternative candidate, thus conceding the seat to another party, a new panel was hastily convened on April 1st and the current Brondesbury Park councillor, Tony Ethapemi was selected and duly signed the nomination papers.
As a former local party agent I have to sympathise with the plight the agent and colleagues found themselves in. I hope their blood pressure is back to normal!
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