Emenike clinches APC guber ticket, declares mission to rescue Abia

From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia

A veteran journalist and business man, High Chief Ikechi Emenike, has emerged the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 general elections in Abia State .

 Emenike who picked tha APC governorship ticket after garnering 672 votes of the total 907 votes cast in the Abia APC Governorship primary held in Umuahia on Thursday, May 26, 2022, to beat six other aspirants, declared that he was on a mission to rescue and develop Abia.

The Returning Officer of  Abia APC Governorship primary Congress Committee, Tony Obiefuna, who announced the outcome of the exercise, said that Emeka Atuma got 150 votes to place second while  Paul Ikonne secured 22 votes to come third.

The result showed that other governorship aspirants got the following votes: Dan Eke, 16; Dr Alex Otti (who serviced notice of his withdrawal from the exercise on May 24, 2022), 14; Obinna Oriaku, 12 and  Uche Ogah brought up the rear with 6 votes.

According to Obiefuna, 920 delegates were expected at the Abia governorship primary election, but 907 were accredited, adding that 893 were recorded as valid votes and 15 were invalid votes.

All the aspirants were present at the venue but the trio of Uche Ogah, Paul Ikonne and Obinna Oriaku left the venue hile voting was in progress after complaining that the National Secretariat of the party had directed that the exercise should conducted, using direct primary.

Accepting his victory, Emenike expressed his gratitude to all party members, supporters across the state and security operatives who made the day possible. He said God was with him and would always disappoint those plotting his downfall.

He said he has surmounted several obstacles to win the primary, but pointed out that the battle to liberate Abia was just starting.

“You must have noticed the huge challenges we faced; that this is not just an APC internal challenge. There are a lot of external forces who are interest in the outcome of today’s primaries. And some of these bad forces are responsible for the misery we have in this state. 

“Our mission is very simple and straight forward: to rescue and then develop Abia. I can assure you that nothing will deter us,” he said, stressing that with God on his side, victory was sure. “There will be bigger celebration on May 29, 2023,” he added. 

The governorship hopeful charged APC members not to rest on their oars as there was greater work to do to ensure victory in 2023.

“I want to tell our members, don’t go and sleep and think the battle is over. This is just the beginning of the beginning. So all men of good will, whether you are in politics or out of politics, this is not the time to sit on the fence; come and be part of what we are doing,” he said.

Emenike explained that winning the APC governorship ticket has been “a long tortuous journey.”

“If you look, you will see the struggle is still ongoing. This is jus t the first step in that long journey to liberate Abia State. I can’t do it alone. That is why I need the support, collaboration goodwill of alll to be able to reach all destinations,” he appealed.

He made it clear that despite obstacle being put on his way, “God almighty has ordained that the time to liberate Abia is now, nobody can stop it,” adding that he was ready to work with those he has differences with, “as long as the objective is to develop Abia.”

“I accept this mandate from our party with every sense of humility and responsibility, I assure our party faithful that I will not let them down. This victory we must win. I can assure you that any obstacle they place on the way, by the grace of God, we will surmount it.

“Any valley that they need us to crawl into, we will crawl into that valley to liberate Abia State; any mountain we will need to climb, we will be there to make sure development comes to this state. Tell them the time of Abia has come. This state must go back and restore itself as God’s Own State. The era for devil has gone, the era of occultism has gone, the era of underdevelopment has gone,” he declared.