Abia 2023: APC stakeholders reaffirm Ogah’s gubernatorial candidacy
By Chijindu Emeruwa.
Major stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State, have reaffirmed their implicit confidence in the gubernatorial candidacy of the immediate past Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Dr Uche Sampson Ogah, given the current litigations surrounding the outcome of the parallel gubernatorial primaries held by the APC leadership in Abia state ahead of the 2023 main elections in the state.
Recall that the APC conducted parallel gubernatorial primaries on the 26th day of May 2022 in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, wherein two governorship candidates emerged.
The candidates are the immediate past Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Dr Uche Sampson Ogah and the former Pro-chancellor and Chairman of the Board, University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN, Ikechi Emenike.
Both candidates are already in court seeking judicial interpretation on the authenticity of the conducted exercise.
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However, while speaking during an enlarged meeting of the Abia APC stakeholders which took place at the State party secretariat at Azikwe road in Umuahia, on the backdrops of the litigations at the weekend, a former Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Stanley Ohazuruka, asked party members across the state to be focused and not to be distracted since they are original and founding members of the party in the state.
He confided that the party will emerge stronger given the awaiting decision of the court of competent jurisdictions on the suit challenging the eligibility and authenticity of the candidacy of Abia factional leader of the All Progressives Congress in the state, Ikechi Emenike, urging APC members across the state to remain undeterred and dedicated in their genuine efforts to provide the dividends of democracy to the doorsteps of the Abia electorates when formed next government in the state come 2023.
On his part, a former member of the federal house of representatives from Abia state, Hon Nze Chiekwe Esiaga, reiterated the resolve of the state party leadership under Chief Golden Wabara to always uphold democratic principles and expressed optimism that the party will emerge stronger after the adjudication of the suits necessitated by the outcome of the concluded primaries.
He harped on the urgent need for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to close ranks and work towards the success of the party in the coming elections in Abia state as soon as the court resolve all core and fundamental issues that necessitated the current internal crisis ravaging state chapter of the party, confiding that APC will win the state governorship, majority of members in state and national assemblies in the 2023 elections.
Asiago further maintained that Ogah have the requisite capacity, competence and needed the expertise to deliver the party in the coming exercise, and equally salvage the people from the misrule of the Government of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abia.
Also baring his minds on the court litigations and the preparedness of the All Progressives Congress for the 2023 general election in Abia, the State Chairman of the party, Chief Golden Nwagbara restated the commitment of the party leadership to deepening internal democracy and upholding genuine democratic principle in her political development and entire electoral processes, to give the electorates quality leadership at all strata of Abia state.
He reiterated that the state party leadership stood on its earlier position on the outcome of the May 26 Gubernatorial primaries conducted in the state and democratically elected the ex-minister of state for mines and steel development, and further berated the alleged move by disgruntled party members to thwart the collective will of the majority of APC members in the state by awarding unmerited victory to political desperados who were rejected by teeming party members and entire Abia people at the recently-concluded primary elections held across the state.
Nwagbara vowed that the party will leave nothing to surmounting any clogs or stumbling blocks in the wheel of progress of the party, and especially its chances of emerging victorious in the 2023 elections and other future elections in the state, lauding the party’s gubernatorial candidate in Abia state, Dr Uche Sampson Ogah for his continued and immense supports to the growths of the party.
According to him, “there’s no doubts and remain undisputable that Dr Uche Ogah fostered the existing and overwhelming acceptability and popularity of the party among the larger population of Abia electorates”.
The chairman admonished members to remain resolute and dedicated to upholding democratic ideologies on which the All Progressives Congress was founded, and reassured them that victory is theirs, and they should never lose hopes as they await the court ruling on the authenticity of the recently-conducted parallel gubernatorial primaries in Abia state.
Earlier, while briefing party leaders and members drawn from all 17 Local Government Areas of Abia state, on the lawsuits over the outcome of the concluded gubernatorial primaries held in the state during the well-attended party stakeholders meeting in Umuahia, Dr Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah, the 2023 governorship standard-bearer of the All Progressives Congress in Abia state, admonished party members to remain steadfast and prayerful while for the verdict of the court at Abuja.
He also urged the party leaders, entire members and teeming supporters of the party not to lose hope in the current legal tussle over the Abia governorship seat ticket of the APC and further drew instances from the biblical Lazarus where all hopes were not lost on him by his people and when some disciples of Jesus Christ encountered a heavy storm with him in the high sea.
He, however, asked party members to draw strength from the controversies surrounding the law and keep hope alive.
The meeting of the Abia Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress was attended by members of the State Working Committee (SWC) of the party, House of Assembly candidates Local Government Area chairmen and secretaries, women leaders and youth leaders from the seventeen local government areas chapters of the APC in the state among others.
