2027: Abia APC Stakeholders Close Ranks, Plot Tinubu’s Victory, Otti’s Defeat

•Vow to win Abia guber seat in 2027

•Threaten to suspend any party member working for Otti’s re-election

•Insist pyramid of leadership no longer in contest

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Political stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Abia State chapter, have stated their resolve to deliver President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.

The political heavyweight in the state, who after many superiority battles have also decided to work together and strategise to ensure the defeat of Governor Alex Otti-led Labour Party (LP) government in the 2027 general election.

The resolution to close ranks and form a United front was reached at a meeting held at the residence of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu yesterday in Abuja.

The meeting had in attendance the APC National Welfare Secretary, Donatus Nwankpa, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, former Commissioner for Finance, Obinna Oriaku, Ndukwe Adindu, Sam Nkire, Mike Nwabara, Anyim Nyerere, Nze Esiaga, Chidi Maduekwe, Ndukwe Maxwell, and Nnanna Kalu, Emeka Atuma, among others.

Addressing journalists after the meeting, Kalu noted that the meeting was called following the directive of President Tinubu during the recently held APC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja that all aggrieved party members should be reconciled in state chapters where there are issues.

He stated:  “We are more united now than ever because President Tinubu during the last APC NEC meeting gave us directive to go and reconcile members of the party in our States. He knows that we are capable of doing it and we will be very grateful to the people of our constituencies and the masses to join us in uniting the party.

“They stand to benefit more by enjoying the federal might. They can see what is happening in Abia North Senatorial District concerning the federal government’s interventions and I am very thankful to former President Buhari and the incumbent President Tinubu. This is what the three Senatorial Districts will enjoy when they join the APC.”

The former governor explained that the last time he met with President Tinubu, he was not very happy about the situation in Abia.

He added: “I gave him my words that we are going to work hard to bring back Abia as a united indivisible entity. The President knows that we the leaders of Abia are capable of doing that. We are going to do that and we are calling and promising all the leaders that nobody will be left behind. We are in government and everybody must roll with us because anybody who does might regret his action.”

Kalu stated categorically that the resolution of the party chieftains from the state was to support Tinubu in his quest to win a re-election in 2027.

He stated: “We have a President that has done first term and will be going for a second term. If he is doing second term, Abia needs to also align to the centre because we cannot afford to be speaking differently.

“The consensus of the South-east over 2027 is that the zone will do very well in supporting President Tinubu and I challenge them to mark my words. I have been working and I am on ground. Remember when Mr. President visited Enugu, I was not there physically but I have his permission to visit all the governors in the South East and beyond and I am doing that.

“We are working and not resting. The President knows that there are few planners behind him and when we plan we execute the plan. The Class of 1999 governors are made up of very tough people and a very good class,” he noted.

Earlier, APC National Welfare Secretary, Nwankpa said the meeting was called for the purpose of redirecting the party and consolidating the gains the party has made in recent times.

He said Abia APC  has had the largest influx from other parties in the last two years, saying they had  received over 70 per cent of the former members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), among others.

Nwankpa noted: “We have also come today to beg the leaders of the party in the state, starting with the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon Benjamin Kalu who is the number six citizen in the country, the Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and former governor, Orji Kalu, our serving minister and other critical leaders who most of them are here and others absent due to one reason or the other, to come together, including our immediate past gubernatorial candidate, High Chief Ikechi Emenike.

“We want to beg all of them to please, in the interest of the generality of the party, bury whatever individual differences, personal idiosyncrasies, and come together to put the party together. 

“In our party, we want to assure them that our support is unshakable, our loyalty to their leadership is unshakable; our determination to capture the government house of Abia State come 2027 is uncompromising.

“We have also come here to condemn any leader, in one way or the other, covert or overt, in tune with the view that we are supporting the incumbent governor to continue in office. 

“We are not saying that he should leave as the present governor but we are saying that come 2027, the governor of Abia State will be a member of APC. 

“We will denounce, suspend and take any action against any leader who does otherwise. And we are saying that whatever that had happened in the past, today we are forgiving all of them and begging our leaders because APC Abia State has all it takes to win Abia State.

“We have the goodwill of the people and it is in favour of APC in Abia State. We want to assure the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that APC is not going to beg anybody to give him 25 per cent, but we are assuring him that APC will come first in 2027 elections in Abia State and that Abia State APC endorses his continuity as the President of Nigeria for the purpose of actualising those policies, those economic and social reforms that he has started and we are commending the genuineness of his determination to keep Nigeria right, we all praying for him.

“Finally, there is no dispute in APC leadership in Abia State, we have no problem with the party leadership in the state.”

On his part, Atuma said the meeting was called to set a template and create a pathway for the party being reunited, consolidated, and repositioned to win elective offices.

He noted: “And we have looked at it today holistically, believing that we all have to come together as leaders of Abia. 

“If you heard Senator Orji Uzor Kalu when he spoke, he said that he’s a student of power, and he respects the hierarchy of leadership, and he’s also prepared to take a back seat and  have the leadership drive, should that bring the possible peace in our state in order to mobilise our people in such way that APC…

“And then number one item is the pyramid of leadership is not in contest. That pinnacle of leadership is what we’ve designed today, and that is what we’re going to respect, that’s what we’re going to pursue, that’s what we’re going to establish in order to give us the strength to win elections in Abia in 2027.”