Less than two months to the conduct of the November 8, gubernatorial election in Anambra State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state has declared that it is ready to resist any form of manipulation by the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
The state chairman of the party, Chief Basil Ejidike, who made the declaration during the inauguration of a 290-man campaign council at the party office in Awka, the state capital, said Anambra APC will resist the irregularities and thuggery that aided APGA to win the recent by-elections in the state.
Ejidike, declared that incidents and lawlessness that played out during the by-elections will not happen again, added that the campaign council is battle ready to deliver the party and fight against any attempt at sabotaging the process by APGA.
His words: “We had to start from bottom to top, and that is from the polling units. Elections are only won at the polling unit level and not at the state level. All these while, we have been working hard to ensure that we maintain presence in all the 5,720 polling booths in Anambra State. “Now, we have presence at each and every one of them.
That is exactly what we have been doing in the past three months and by the special grace of God, we can now beat our chest to say that we have gone far. “Secondly, the disappointment in the Anambra South senatorial by-election has been a lesson to us.
We learnt our lessons from that election and we want to say today that it will never happen again. “That was why we had a delay in the setting up of our campaign council. Today, we have been able to cross the Ts and dot the Is in the areas that we were lacking and we are now good to go for the November 8 gubernatorial election.”
The governorship candidate of the party, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, who also spoke at the event, dismissed the viral video, in which he was alleged to be owing debt totaling N10 billion. He described the claim as untrue, adding that he cannot owe such money, when he is worth several billions of naira. He noted that it was a calculated attempt by his traducers to paint him black in the name of winning election.
“I have come to tell you that our move to the government house, Awka is possible. What we are aiming will surely come to pass but we cannot win the governorship election without working hard for it. However, from what we have seen so far it shows that we are working hard.
“From the number of people joining us, you will agree with me that they are visioners and we are going to make the difference in this coming election. Faith without work is dead. God has made a promise to the people of Israel but they also worked for it. “Though there were obstacles during the journey, God delivered them and that is what the APC is going to witness. We will surely get to the Promise Land,” Ukachukwu noted.
The APC gubernatorial running mate, Senator Uche Ekwunife, on her part, observed the party’s growth in strenght, following the defection of four members of the state House of Assembly to its fold. She said: “Today, APC has four sitting state Assembly members for the first time in the history of Anambra State.
It is not a joke because it is a great achievement for the party since its inception in the state” “We thank the lawmakers for joining the moving train and we are gathered here not just as a political party but as people, who want to bring the best development to Anambra State.
“We have gathered because we have the best intentions to move Anambra State forward. Anambra deserves change in leadership in order to be at par with other statesin terms of development.”
Inaugurating members of the campaign council, National Vice Chairman South East of the APC Dr. Ijeoma Anodiafu announced that all APC governors as well as President Bola Tinubu are in full support of the Ukachukwu/ Ekwunife ticket. He added that the APC needs Anambra State more than ever, urging party faithful and members of the campaign council to remain focused as the presidency is with them.
