Deputy chief whip of the House of Representatives Hon Nkeiruka Onyejeocha has said the emergence of High Chief Ikechi Emenike as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has elicited excitement and hope among her constituents.
The lawmaker stated this at a stakeholders’ meeting she hosted at her Ngodo Isuochi country home at the weekend.
She said the Almighty God in this appointed time has heard the cries of Abians and has sent Emenike on rescue mission, stressing that “God knows that a time like this will come when he will use Emenike to salvage Abia. God has seen the APC governorship flag bearer as a man of high integrity and total commitment to develop Abia.”
Onyejeocha said that the administration of Governor Okezie has become huge disappointment to the entire state hence the need to bring in “somebody who knows what to do to take charge of Abia in 2023”.
She declared that her constituency has taken a decision to keep faith with APC given all the dividends of democracy that have accrued to the area since the ruling party came on board in 2019.
The stakeholders’ meeting involved traditional rulers, council of elders(Ndi Ichie), presidents of town unions, clerics, women and youth leaders as well as various interest groups in the local government.
“Everybody in Umunneochi has agreed, irrespective of political party, that there is need for change in Abia,” the House deputy chief whip said, adding that Emenike will drive the change that would bring development to Abia.
“Emenike will not embezzle Abia money. He is a man of integrity, which is the most important quality that is nedded in politics but lacking among the “enemies of Abia holding the state down”.
In his response, the APC governorship candidate acknowledged the steadfastness of Umunneochi, saying that the local government has every reason to support APC given all the benefits it has enjoyed from the party.
He assured the stakeholders that the incoming APC government in Abia would be a government of equity, justice, truth, adding that every part of the state would be carried along.
The chairman of Abia APC, Dr Kingsley Ononogbu told te Umunneochi stakeholders that the aim Abia opposition party was out to rebuild the state devastated by decades of misrule.
“We in Abia APC are unhappy with the poor state of affairs in Abia and that is the reason we asked High Chief Ikechi Emenike to lead us to reclaim and rebuild God’s own state, ” he said.
All the stakeholders that spoke, drawn from the three clans – Umuchieze, Nuneaton and Isuochi – that constitute Umunneochi agreed that the local government has no other option than to support APC.
“We are voting APC. That’s where we belong. The outgoing PDP government in Abia has not remembered Umunneochi in anything,” said Engr Ejike Chukwu, the APC candidate for Umunneochi state constituency.
Thw eader of Amuda Isuochi women, Mrs. Iheoma Nkem Madu assured APC leaders that the womenfolk were solidly behind the the rescue and develop Abia mission of Abia APC.
“We have taken a stand with Hon Onyejeocha and all that she stands for. And we are already carrying the APC message to the grassroots,” she said.
