Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki
The Director General of the Divine Mandate Campaign Council, the campaign platform of the APC in Ebonyi State for the 2023 general election, Austin Umahi, has said the gubernatorial candidate of the party, Francis Nwifuru, never threatened the Ezza clan.
He was reacting to reports credited to Mr Nwifuru where he was alleged to have threatened that the Ezza clan will regret it if they don’t vote for him.
But Mr Umahi noted that Nwifuru holds the people of Ezza clan in high esteem, knowing the clan’s strategic place in Ebonyi polity.
Mr Umahi said the statement of Mr Nwifuru at the APC rally in Ezza South was hijacked and twisted by opposition elements, noting that nothing was wrong with the statement.
The DG who stated this while briefing journalists at the campaign office of the APC gubernatorial candidate in Abakaliki Friday, assured that both the APC and Nwifuru cannot play with Ezza clan in Ebonyi political equation.
He, however, expressed joy that the so-called opposition elements spreading the alleged false reports only exist on the social media.
Umahi noted that the APC governorship candidate was overwhelmingly chosen by the people due to his vast experience in governance and urged the general public to ignore false alarms coming from opposition elements in the state.
He said: “This young man (referring to the APC Guber Candidate) advised the fathers of Unwuekumenyi, the Ezza Nation, to please invest in this venture because there are dividends in the investment.
“People play politics with everything, and I want to say, he couldn’t have meant otherwise because he is a seasoned politician.
“You cannot play with Ezza Nation in the political equation of Ebonyi State, you cannot play with them but our joy, unspeakable joy, is that this so-called opposition, only exists on the Facebook….”
The APC Stalwart assured Ebonyi people that the APC and the governorship candidate had articulated their needs in his manifestos and assured he would address them headlong on the assumption of office in May.
He said the APC would not bulge to the distractions of the opposition political parties in the state to take to violence in the electioneering processes.
Umahi lamented the opposition elements had resorted to the destruction of billboards and posters of the APC just to push the Party and Campaign Council to provocation.
He maintained that despite provocation, the Divine Mandate Campaign Council would remain courageous while operating in tune with global best practices.
“They are destroying our billboards and posters, but that has to Stop, we are warning it must stop, otherwise they would be pushing us to the wall. We are working assiduously hard, we are convinced, we know and believe very well that God is the one who blesses the one who diligently works his way, and we are convinced that there is no other party.
“We have decided to be mature and let them count themselves lucky that we have a God-fearing Governor, a man that believes that no contest is worth the spilling of blood. They are trying to provoke us into crises but we have said no, we cannot do their bidding,” he added.
The Campaign Council Director General expressed confidence that the APC would secure victory at all levels during the general elections despite the antics of the opposition political parties in the state.
