THE National Chairman of All Progressives Alliance (APC), Dr Abdulahi Ganduje, has said that South-East had its closest chance of taking the presidency when the late Dr Alex Ekwueme, a prominent son of Anambra State, served as vice president
Speaking in Nnewi during a mega empowerment rally organized by the senator representing Anambra South, Ifeanyi Ubah, Ganduje spoke on the need for the South-East to fully connect to the centre by joining the APC and voting for governors from the party in all the five states.
According to him, because of the commitment of the Igbo to the ruling party then, then-President Shehu Shagari was favourably disposed and was strongly considering Ekwueme to succeed him.
Ganduje said: “You know when your brother, Alex Ekwueme was the vice president to our brother, Shehu Shagari. The body language was there, and if not that the military struck, your son, Alex Ekwueme would have become the president.
“I tell you this story because the road to political freedom is to key into the ruling party, and once you do that, marginalization would be a thing of the past.”
Ganduje, who was overwhelmed by the large crowd that attended the empowerment rally, said with what he has seen, and with the mobilisation Ifeanyi Ubah has done and his acceptance in Anambra, the South East is ready to key into mainstream politics.
“We are astonished at the crowd that attended this rally. Our renewed hope agenda is to bring the South-east into the mainstream politics. This is not an ordinary rally, but one for empowerment, and we have been informed that everybody here today will must go back with something.
“I have seen thousand of motorcycles, tricycles, buses, generators, grinding machines, bags of rice and other food stuff that will be distributed, and we thank Senator Ifeanyi Ubah for this,” he said.
Imo State governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma who also spoke at the rally, said the party came to encourage Ubah to do more.
He said that President Bola Tinubu has confronted the monsters that successive governments feared to confront for years, naming the monsters to include removal of fuel subsidy and unification of exchange rate.
“Every government tried and failed, but President Bola Tinubu came and decided to confront them, and the effect is the temporary hunger that you see. That is why he decided to empower representatives with palliatives for them to go back and distribute to the people to confront hunger. That is what we are doing here today,” Uzodinma said.
The organiser of the rally, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah in a remark said Anambra people will not relent in heeding the call to integrate into mainstream politics by electing an APC governor in 2025.
Ubah, who is also a governorship aspirant of APC, said the empowerment, though for the people of Anambra South, was extended to the entire state.
Source: The Vanguard
