Abia APC Passes Vote of Confidence in Tinubu, Adopts President as Sole Candidate for 2027 Election

 

Abia State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Sunday passed a vote of confidence in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his people-oriented leadership, adopting him as the sole candidate for President in the forthcoming 2027 election.

The Party took the decision during its Pre-Congress and National Convention Stakeholders Meeting in Bende, Bende Local Government Area of Abia State.

The Party also affirmed the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, as its leader for Abia State in recognition of all his efforts to boost its profile and turn around its fortunes in the State.

Speaking at the meeting that attracted a plethora of renowned politicians and leaders in the State which included th member representing Ukwa East/Ukwa West Federal Constituency of Abia State, Hon. Chris Nkwonta; the minister of State for Labour, Hon. Nkiru Onyejiocha, many former Senators such as Dr. Nkechi Nwogu, Senator Chris Adighije; former member of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Emeka Atuma; another fomer member, Hon. Sam Onuigbo; the National Welfare Secretary of the party, Chief Donatus Nwankpa; over 5 former Speakers of the State House of Assembly including, Rt. Hon. Christopher Ewerenmadu, Rt. Hon. Stanley Ohajuruka, Rt. Hon. Martins Azubuike;
former and serving members of the State Assembly which included Hon. Aaron Uzodike who formerly defected to the APC from the PDP; over 20 former local government chairmen; over 100 former commissioners; several commissioners in various federal government parasites; many captains of industries; other high profile politicians across the 17 Local Government Areas of the State, amongst others, the Deputy Speaker, Kalu who chaired the meeting said that the ultimate goal of the meeting is to deliver President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027 election.

He said: “Everything we have come to do today boils down to one thing: delivering His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Let me say it again. All we came to do is to make sure that the structures that we set up within the party, be it at the Ward level, local government level or State, at the end of the day, we will deliver President bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“I want to move a motion and that motion is that Abia State APC wholly adopts the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as our sole candidate for the coming election. Those in support that we are passing a great vote of confidence on our President, and as a party in Abia State, we are adopting him as the sole candidate for the office of the President, come 2027 say, aye. Those against, they are not here. You can now see that Mr. President has been adopted as our sole candidate. This motion was seconded by the Welfare Secretary of the National Working Committee.”

 

Reflecting on the just concluded electronic membership registration of the party, the Deputy Speaker said that contrary to the speculations and pessimism in some quarters, the Abia APC recorded significant progress with over 160,000 memberships, expressing gratitude to the members for their commitment and support.

He said: “I thank you all most profoundly for coming out en masse and supporting the membership registration. When we were doing this membership registration, the national chairman was calling me, waking me up every morning and was the last person to speak to me every night. He was worried about our State simply because we don’t have a sitting governor like other States, but I assured the national chairman that I was canceling my trip overseas, returning to base for us to work together as stakeholders.

“Some people who are not members of our party claimed that we don’t have the numbers. The National Working Committee panicked whether the President will have sufficient soldiers of the party with the capacity to deliver the 25% or more during election, but I assured Mr. Chairman that we will use this to prove a point that though we don’t have a governor, we have a Deputy Speaker. There are leaders who lead from their bedrooms and there are leaders who lead from the battlefront. I decided to cancel my holidays throughout the parliamentary holiday season and return to base.

 

“When we crossed 50,000, I told them, we will get 100,000 and they doubted me, and we crossed 100,000. When we crossed 100,000, I told them that we’ll get to 150 000, and they doubted me again, and we crossed it and went to over 160,000 today. Let nobody lie to you. Be strong. Be courageous. We have all it takes to deliver to Mr. President more than the 25%. His party sitting at over 160, 000 now will do so. Our challenge was only because the NIN machine was not enough. If we had more NIN machines, our party is more than 1 million people in this State, and that is the truth. What restricted the registration was the inability to capture most people who were lining up every day, and the network issue with the machines.

 

“Between now and one year, when the election will come, we will satisfy Mr. President with the number of the members of this great party of ours. It’s a promise. We are not relenting. We are marching forward. We are not looking back. We are pushing because the train has taken off. I want to thank you for what you did. Tell the person beside you, thank you”.

Kalu also preached unity and peace among the members of the party, saying that the days of factionalization are over.

 

On the forthcoming Ward Congresses, the Deputy Speaker, said that he has secure the nomination forms for the party and would be distributed soon.

“Let me preach unity. Let me preach peace. Everybody is important in this party. Let me say it again, everybody is important in APC. Please, I beg of you. We are marching forward, but that match will only be accomplishing the result we have set to achieve if we match together. We must come together. Everybody is important. Let us treat everyone with that sense of importance. We don’t have factions in this party. So, don’t come and tell me about factions. Anybody maintaining faction is not a member of our party. It’s part of our resolution today. Anybody who wants to maintain factions is not a member of APC. We must be together if we are going to win massively in this state. We must be together. When they call you and say, you belong to my faction, please run. Tell them that the leadership of the party said zero faction for APC. Whatever comes, we will share it equitably and fairly. Anything that comes, we share it with respect. We must work together.

 

“Let me also announce to you that the Congress is coming up on Wednesday. That is the Ward Congress. In other States, governors will pay for the form and bring it back home. In our State, we don’t have Governor and I went and I paid for it. But this form is not my personal property. I brought it for you. It’s for you. It’s not for me to now decide it must be this person or that person. I say, we have passed that level. Where we are now, I play my role in the hierarchy of government today”, Kalu said.

 

Taking turns to make their remarks, the enthusiastically, visibly joyous and satisfied APC leaders extolled the leadership qualities of the Deputy Speaker and his numerous contributions to the growth of the party in the State, unanimously affirming Kalu as their leader.

The affirmation came on the heels of a motion moved by the former Senator Nkechi Nwogu who represented Abia Central at the Senate and seconded by the member representing Ukwa East and Ukwa West Federal Constituency of Abia State at the House of Representatives, Hon. Chris Nkwonta.