Buhari, Osinbajo, APC Chieftains to Storm Abia Today for Political Rally

Umuahia, the Abia State capital and its environs, is in a state of frenzy as the state gets set to host President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman, John Odigie Oyegun and other bigwigs of the party today.

Other APC chieftains expected at the rally include the Chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum and Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha; former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani; former Governor of the old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo, ministers from the South-east; immediate past Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Sullivan Chime; immediate past Governor of Ebonyi State, Martins Elechi, among other APC stalwarts in the country in general.

The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Benedict Godson, stated that the party intends to use the rally to announce its preparedness to take over governance in the state and other states in the South-east in 2019. Godson, according to The

Will, said President Buhari is expected to be in the state for the first time after being elected president of the country for a mega rally organised by the party at the Umuahia Township stadium and would also use the opportunity to present to the people of the state, some political bigwigs in the state who had joined the party from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and from other parties.

He also added that members of other political parties that defected into the party like former governor of the state from 1999-2007, Mr. Orji Uzor Kalu; PDP 2015 governorship aspirant, Dr. Sampson Uche Ogah; former Managing Director of defunct Hallmark Bank, Chief Sir. Marc Wabara; Mr. Emeka Wogu; former Labour Minister, Senator Bob Nwanunu; General Ogbonnaya Okoro (rtd) and others would be formally presented to the public during the president’s visit.

“The Abia mega really will be the first APC rally in the South in 2018 and we want to use it to tell the world that we are ready to take over the Abia Government House and other state government houses in the South-East. We also want to use the occasion of the rally to pledge our support for President Buhari to run for the 2019 presidential election,” he stated.

“We will also receive prominent politicians of Abia State extraction like Kalu, Ogah, Ike and others who thought it wise to join the party in the last few months.

Speaking on zoning the governorship, he stated that, “we don’t have candidates and we can’t have an anointed candidate” insisting that the party’s governorship candidate could emerge from any part of the state.

“We believe that there are some persons with governorship ambitions and they have not made it open to us. We are not zoning the governorship slot. It is open. We want a credible person to emerge. We need change in the state.

“We need a credible and reliable person who can change the life of Abians and develop Abia. It doesn’t matter the part of Abia the person is coming from.

“The APC is desirous of change and ensuring that Abia is developed. We want Abians to feel the impact of governance.”

Meanwhile, a former governorship candidate of the party in Enugu State, Chief Oke Ezea, has said President Muhammadu Buhari remains the best candidate that can sweep massive votes for the party in the next general election, adding that the electoral demography still favours him.

Ezea also urged Ndigbo to make the region relevant by aligning themselves with the political reality so that President Buhari can win in the entire South-east to enable them have a shot at the presidency which had eluded them since 1999.

The APC chieftain in a statement sent to THISDAY yesterday, said recent criticisms of the party from within and from the main opposition party on social and traditional media will not change anything or rob President Buhari of victory.

According to him, President Buhari still enjoys cult followership in the North, arguing that the votes from the North-west alone is higher than those of the South-east and South-south combined.

The statement read in part: “No candidate can match Buhari in 2019. He is our best candidate for the job. All these social media attack won’t affect our victory because the social media critics do not even have voter’s cards. Those who vote in the North are the common people. They don’t know anything about fuel scarcity because they don’t even have cars that consume fuel. They are not bothered about exchange rates. They don’t know dollars and Euros. They are only interested in food prices and happily enough the agricultural policies of Buhari have brought food prices down. So all these indices that critics are harping on won’t work.”

Ezea added that President Buhari can win without Igbo votes just as he did in 2015 when the PDP agents didn’t allow their votes to count but wrote the final result.