Nnaya Eziyi, Umuahia
Emenike
Stakeholders in Ukwa Federal Constituency have rooted for the All Progressive Congress (APC) for the 2019 general election, saying it had dawned on them the constituency has no future in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
This is even as since 1999, the constituency, home to Rep Chris Abonta, the House of Representative committee chairman on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has persistently voted for the PDP.
The stakeholders cut across general and executive committee members of the APC, Emenike Daughters, Emenike Teenagers, Emenike Vanguard, retired academicians, career civil servants, jurists and bankers.
At different meetings with leader of the party in the state, Chief Ikechi Emenike in both Ukwa West and Ukwa East Local Governments Areas which make up the constituency, last weekend, they said the PDP had failed them.
Speaking for them at both Obehia and Akwuate, the headquarters of the areas respectively, the commissioner representing the state in the NDDC, Chief Nwogu Nwogu and Dr Tom Otuka decried the state of the constituency.
They said their resolution followed their conviction that President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to his anti-corruption campaign and the party’s intention to zone the presidency to Ndigbo in 2023.
The stakeholders lamented that despite their continued support for the party for the past 20 years, neither the constituents nor the people have faired better despite their being an oil producing constituency.
Speaking at the meetings, Emenike expressed worry over the level of infrastructure decay, pollution and youth unemployment across the constituency which earned the state its oil-producing status.
He lauded them for their support and confidence in Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign and the party, appealing to them to endeavor to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to vote out the PDP in the election.
Emenike, who used the occasions to inaugurate the leadership of the stakeholders, was shocked by the large turn out of people for the meeting, saying it was a good omen for the party in the state.
