The Abia State chapter of the All Progressives Congress on Thursday inaugurated its 2027 Presidential Campaign Council in Umuahia, while the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party said it was adopting President Bola Tinubu as its presidential candidate.
Inaugurating the 618-member state campaign council, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, said President Tinubu had chosen them to work with him, hence his determination to make Nigeria a great nation.
“This is a call to public duty and a defining moment for the country. Tinubu chose a difficult part to reform Nigeria. I can see him in the coming dispensation. He will win,” he said.
Kalu said the South-East was strategic, adding, “we must come together and shake hands across the Niger to remain relevant. Wrong calculation will take us backwards, right calculation will take us forward”, and described the President as the platform for Ndigbo to be sustained.
He called for the President to be allowed to complete his eight years in office so that he could complete the reforms he had started.
He also charged the council to be united in purpose and remain focused.
Announcing the coalition of the PDP with the APC, the PDP deputy governorship candidate, Abraham Amah, said, “I want to make it very clear that we are in total support of the re-election of President Ahmed Tinubu. We are mindful of the fact that he has done very well.
“No organisation can do this alone. The benefit of that partnership is that it will enhance what they will be able to secure in the Abia States. And it will make the job of President very easy to secure appointments for the leaders of Abia State”.
In his speech, the Coordinator of the Campaign Council and APC state chairman, Chijioke Chukwu, described the occasion as a new dawn, saying the party had come together for a common purpose.
He pointed out that party members in the state had previously been fighting among themselves but were now united.
He thanked Kalu for coordinating the party in the state and President Tinubu for giving him a job, stating, “the task ahead is challenging but very easy”. He stressed the need to deliver the President in the 2027 presidential election to give the state bargaining power.
He appealed to Kalu to use his relationship with the President to fill the vacancy in the Federal Executive Council following the resignation of Nkeiruka Onyejeocha as a minister.
He urged the President to fill the position with a bona fide APC member, noting that “the slot in the Federal Character Commission is a embarrassment to us”.