To end hardship in Abia, vote Emenike, APC stakeholders urge Abians

From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia

Chieftains of All Progressives Congress (APC) have urged the electorate in the state to vote for the governorship candidate of the party, High Chief Ikechi Emenike, in the March 11, 2023 governorship election to end hardship, misery and suffering in the state.

They made the call during Chief Emenike’s campaign rally at Umuahia North Local Government Area which marked the conclusion of his campaign tour of the 17 local government areas of the state.

Addressing the rally held at Chidiebere Park in Umuahia, the Federal Commissioner representing Abia in the National Population Commission (NPC), Chief Nwanne Nwabuisi, said Emenike was God’s answer to the myriads of problems ravaging Abia.

“Abians have been suffering for years: no payment of workers’ salaries; pension and gratuity are not being paid. Ikechi Emenike will bring all these sufferings to an end and bring change. All we should be doing is to thank God for the change He has brought to Abia. With the election of Ikechi Emenike on March 11, Abia will bid bye to her sufferings and hardship,” Nwabuisi said.

Similarly, the member representing Bende Federal Constituency, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, said he graced the rally to publicly attest to Emenike’s honesty, integrity and forthrightness and his capacity to put things right in the state.

Okezie told the crowd that Emenike supported the emergence APC candidates from Abia without collecting any dime from them.

“He has integrity, honesty and fear of God,” the federal lawmaker said, adding, “if truly we are looking for a man to develop Abia, then, it is Ikechi Emenike. It is the right thing that Ikechi Emenike is voted into Government House to represent us for the better.”

A former federal lawmaker, Hon Emeka Atuma (a.k.a Kabila) also joined in extolling the leadership qualities and virtues of Emnike, saying that he would usher in good governance in the state.

“I stand with you to encourage you because there is enormous work to be done to change Abia from being a poverty capital to prosperity capital, time has come to sweep away the regime that has pauperized Abians,” Atuma said, expressing hope that Emenike has the capacity to change the negative narrative of Abia.

Abia APC Chairman, Dr Kingsley Ononogbu, described Emenike as a good product, saying that it was a thing of pride that the party elected Emenike to lead the state.

“APC got the best of the best of the governorship candidates in Abia and that is Ikechi Emenike. He is a product of thorough thinking. No candidate measures at par with him,” Onongbu said.

He charged the people of Umuahia North to own the Chief Ikechi Emenike governorship project and ensure his convincing victory on March 11, 2023.

All the stakeholders who spoke, including National and House of Assembly candidates, appealed to Abians to, apart from Emenike, equally vote for the APC Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and all other APC candidates to enable them to emerge victorious on February 25 and March 11, respectively.

Agreeing with the earlier speakers, Emenike, while addressing his enthusiastic supporters, lamented the astonishing level of decay in Abia which he blamed on successive administrations in the past 24 years and promised to put Abia on a speedy lane of development but said that Abians must first ensure that he emerged victorious in the March 11 governorship poll.

“The first step is to win the 2023 governorship election and rescue Abia from the fangs of incompetent, cruel and corrupt men and women who have held the state down for 24 years.

“Subsequently, we shall propel the state into a fresh highway of socio-economic development,’’ he said.

The Development Economist promised to devote 70 per cent of his programmes to youth empowerment, adding that after he must have spent 18 months in office, any youth in Abia not employed should protest to Government House.

The Abia APC Governorship hopeful also urged the electorate in the state to vote for Tinubu as the most qualified among the contestants, stressing that Tinubu’s emergence would make his task as governor easier.

”Help me by voting for Tinubu so that it will be easy for me to open any difficult door at the federal level when I become Abia governor,” Emenike said, adding, “don’t let this opportunity God has given us to slip away.’’