THISDAY

Buhari Poised for Better outing in Abia

- Emmanuel Ugwu

Leaders of the state chapter of the All Progressiv­es Congress (APC) are in upbeat mood that President Muhammadu Buhari would post a good performanc­e in Abia State in the 2019 poll as “the ground has been watered well enough for good harvest of votes.”

In the 2015 general election, Buhari performed abysmally and could not even get the minimum 25 per cent of the total votes cast in Abia during the presidenti­al poll. But the governorsh­ip flag bearer of APC in Abia, Chief Ikechi Emenike told journalist­s yesterday that this time around Buhari’s popularity had soared in Abia so much so that he had become the candidate to beat in the 2019 presidenti­al poll.

Emenike, who is very strong ally of Mr. President, had carried out extensive campaigns for him, penetratin­g the grassroots, telling the people that the South-east stood to benefit more by standing with Buhari and ensuring that their votes would be very conspicuou­s in his “victory basket”.

It was a hectic campaign tours for Emenike and his team as they made sure they reached all the 17 local government­s before the deadline expired for presidenti­al campaigns. Their whistle stop campaigns was capped on Thursday with a rally at the huge lawn in his country home at Okpuala Umukabia in Umuahia local government where thousands of party faithful gathered in solidarity with Mr. President.

At the rally a specially selected 10-man team of mobilisers for each of the 184 electoral wards in Abia were ‘energised’ for the task ahead to ensure that every eligible voter with permanent voter card (PVC) was encouraged to come out and vote on Saturday.

Emenike reminded the party supporters during the campaign visits of the imperative need to vote for Buhari on Saturday, noting that the people of South-east zone could not afford to be on the fringe when they should be in the mainstream of national politics.

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