2023: Abia APC Chieftains, Stakeholders Commend Party for Choosing Emenike as Guber Candidate

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

With 2023 drawing closer by the day, stakeholders and party chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State have continued to applaud the choice of Chief Ikechi Emenike as the standard-bearer of the main opposition party.

Emenike had emerged to lead Abia APC to do battle with other parties in the forthcoming general election following his triumph at the party primary held in Umuahia on May 26, 2022.

His candidacy was lauded and appreciated by party chieftains and stakeholders at a meeting held at Ntalakwu Oboro in Ikwuano Local Government Area of the state during which they expressed their feelings on Emenike’s emergence.

The common string that ran through their speeches was that APC has finally got it right in its choice of governorship candidate, hence the party has “a very good marketable and electable product” in the person of Emenike.

Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon.  Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, said that Abia APC has “for the first time got it right in its choice of governorship flag bearer”, noting that “Emenike has fought very hard to sustain APC in Abia.”

She stated that Emenike’s candidacy was all the more pleasant and satisfactory given the fact that the party made its choice through a seamless internal democratic process of primary poll devoid of any imposition.

“The crux of the matter is for us to become the ruling party in Abia come 2023,” the representative of Isuikwuato/Umunneochi federal constituency said.

According to her, Abians have tried the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for over 20 years and have got their hands burnt and now they are looking up to APC for salvation.

“Dividends of democracy have been hanging somewhere; they would be brought down to Abia State by Emenike (when he becomes governor in 2023),” Onyejeocha said.

The House of Representatives spokesman, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, who represents Bende federal constituency, expressed strong confidence in the capacity of Chief Emenike to lead Abia APC to victory in the 2023 poll.

“I’ve discovered that Emenike is a truthful and honest man and that is what is lacking in Abia politics. With this man leading in front, you can be sure that whatever he promises, he will do it,” he said.

In his address, a former member of the Green Chamber of the National Assembly, Hon. Emeka Atuma, who hosted the meeting, said that he has no doubt that Abia APC has got the winning formula for 2023.

“There is only one governor we can make today; he is High Chief Ikechi Emenike,” said Atuma, adding, “We have the tools that will make it possible for APC  to win Abia governorship poll and at all levels.

“Emenike is a man of impeccable character, truth and steadfastness. He is a man of great ideology,” he further stated, noting that with Emenike as governor, Abia would surely become “a first world state in a third world nation”.

Former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, in his remarks, said that Abia APC has put forward “a good man” to carry its flag in the 2023 governorship contest.