A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State, Chief Chijioke Chukwu, has said that the party would win Abia in 2027 to enable the state to enjoy the benefits of being aligned to the centre.
Chukwu said in an interview in Umuahia that he would rather prefer a scenario where the APC in the 2027 election would field a governorship candidate to face Governor Alex Otti of the Labour Party.
The former Minority Leader of Abia State House of Assembly, maintained that the state was lagging behind, development -wise, the fundamental reason APC faithful in Abia were working tirelessly to ensure that state aligns with the centre.
“We are lagging behind in so many economic and developmental indices; that is why we are working to take Abia to the centre. Because if you are not in the centre, there are so many benefits that you will not get.
“That is why we want to do everything humanly possible to make sure we align Abia with the centre,” he said.
Chukwu, who represents the South East on the Board of the North West Development Commission (NWDC), while reacting to the invitation by the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Ben Kalu, to Otti to join APC, said that he would like APC to field its governorship candidate who slug it out with the Abia Governor in 2027.
“If the Deputy Speaker advises Oti to join APC, I would support him, as a good party man. They are friends and share common interests, and Kalu knows what is best.
“But if given the chance, I would love Otti to lead Labour Party while we present our candidate and we will win him,” Chukwu said.
He expressed optimism that APC would floor Otti because the party was now very strong in Abia, noting that people were defecting to APC in Abia, rather than the ruling Labour Party, saying it was an indication that “something is fundamentally wrong”.
“If we are sincere to ourselves, defections in Abia State are towards APC and not the other way around. One would have expected that since Abia is in the hands of the opposition, most people would be defecting to Labour Party, but in Abia, the reverse is the case.
“That shows that something is faulty, structurally and fundamentally faulty, because people are getting more and more aware on a daily basis that the government is not doing well,” he said.
Though the former state lawmaker praised Governor Otti’s efforts in giving Abia “semblance of governance,” he questioned if the governor’s achievements match the state’s revenue profile.
“This is the first time they (Abians) are seeing something that looks like governance. Just like when a pregnant woman is consciously looking for a child, and if unfortunately the woman gets fibroid, she takes this to be pregnancy until it is confirmed that she is not yet pregnant. That is what is happening in Abia State,” he said.
