Wilson Adekumola
The chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ebonyi State Tochukwu Okorafor has backed the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress, Francis Nwifuru, for the Saturday governoship and state House of Assembly elections in the state.
Okorafor gave the endorsement in a statement in Abakaliki, capital of the state.
While stating his reason, Okoroafor said it would be fair to have a candidate from the Ebony North as the next governor, calling on the electorates to vote for Nwifuru.
He said they must abide by the power rotation otherwise known as charter of equity in the State.
He said, “It is no longer a secret that all the good people of Ebonyi State have now agreed and decided that the power sharing formula of the state is too fragile to be toyed with and remains the only guarantee for peace and mutual co-existence, and therefore must be sustained.
” It has been generally agreed that it is only fair that Ebonyi North should produce the next governor in the spirit of Equity.
” I hereby lend my voice in calling on the few who are yet to fully grasp the importance of this decision to join hands in ensuring that we do not mortgage the future by subverting the power equation of the state as conceived by our founding fathers.
“It is only fair that Ebonyi north be allowed to give us the next governor. I congratulate in advance, His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonnaya Nwifuru. May God bless Ebonyi State.”
Okoroafor expressed worries over the PDP candidate various cases pending in court noting this would impede his ambition.
He, however, dismissed the insinuation that he was behind the court cases challenging Odii’s ambition to become governor of the state.
He said, “It is on record however that it was Mr. Ifeanyi Odii who, after claiming victory in a cancelled primary election, ran to court the following morning to challenge his own victory”
“That was the beginning of all pre-election matters before the courts to which I was never and I am still not a party
“The voting public deserves to know that the person whom they used to convene a kangaroo State Congress that purportedly hosted the governorship primary which produced Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii was and remains an imposter totally unknown to the party”
“This is the subject of the matter now pending before the Supreme Court after the Honourable Justice Nyako held that an imposter could not have convened a valid State Congress”
“And since you cannot build something on nothing and expect it to stand, the primary that purportedly held at that Congress and which produced Odii is invalid and of no effect whatsoever”
“Whether now or later, that question must be answered. Then the scam and the scammers will be exposed for whom they truly are’
“For the avoidance of doubt, it bears reiterating that the Peoples Democratic Party has no valid gubernatorial candidate in Ebonyi State. Anyone genuinely hoping to hop on that sunk ship will only blame himself or herself very soon.”