•Says Obi, Atiku should wait till 2031
By Jude Opara with agency report
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), ACB Agbazuere, has urged politicians seeking to challenge President Bola Tinubu in 2027 to bury their ambition until 2031.
Mr Agbazuere, a former chief of staff to erstwhile Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, said this on Saturday in Isialangwa South LGA at a meeting of APC local government and ward officials in the nine councils that make up the Ukwa-la-Ngwa ethnic nationality of Abia.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate are among politicians who have declared their intentions to contest the 2027 presidential election.
“After 2031, they can come up. Let’s see what they have to offer. But for 2027, the president’s victory is assured,” Mr Agbazuere said.
He promised to work in synergy with other party chieftains, including the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, to ensure that the pattern of voting in 2023 was reversed in Abia in Mr Tinubu’s favour.
The APC chieftain also promised to mobilise his Ukwa-la-Ngwa kith kin to ensure Mr Tinubu’s victory as a reward for his sterling performance in the South-East
Mr Agbazuer said the president had wiped away the tears of maltreatment and marginalisation of the South-East by previous administrations in the country.
He listed some of Mr Tinubu’s landmark projects and programmes approved for the zone, including the creation of the South-East Development Commission and $3 billion fund for the construction of the Eastern Rail line.
“What President Tinubu has done for the South-East is unprecedented in the history of this country, and he has ended many years of maltreatment and marginalisation of the zone,” said Mr Agbazuere.
He noted that the president had approved an airport, the establishment of three tertiary institutions, and many federal roads.
“The president has shown the South-East love, and we must reciprocate that love by ensuring his victory in 2027 with our votes,” Mr Agbazuere said.
He cited the improvement in the country’s GDP and foreign reserves, the students’ loan scheme and the abolition of the oil subsidy as bold and commendable initiatives and commended the president for fighting to restore the local governments’ financial autonomy.
Other party chieftains at the meeting, including the coordinator of Ukwa-la-Ngwa, Ebere Nwachukwu, and the meeting chairman, Godwin Nna, also vowed to work for Mr Tinubu’s re-election.
Messrs Nwachukwu and Nna, one-time chairmen of Isialangwa South and Obingwa LGAs, respectively, along with Mr Agbazuere, gave assurance that the party would stop at nothing to oust the Labour Party (LP) led administration of Governor Alex Otti in 2027.
