2027: Mbah is our political party, Nnaji has no place – Enugu East stakeholders
Amid pressure on Governor Peter Mbah to defect to the All Progressives Congress, APC, stakeholders from the Enugu East Senatorial zone have declared that they would totally support the governor regardless of political party.
DAILY POST recalls that many APC leaders in the state have been lobbying the governor to join the party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Governor Mbah and other South-East leaders within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have been angry over the treatment accorded the zone despite that it is believed to have kept faith with the PDP more than any other region.
This has fueled speculations that Mbah will succumb to the pressure and defect to the APC.
At a meeting of Enugu East stakeholders on Sunday, they declared that Mbah is their political party and that anyone who goes ahead to purchase the governorship form in 2027 to contest against the governor may be wasting their money.
One of the stakeholders, Barr Ben Nwoye, a former chairman of the APC in the state, while re-echoing his appeal on Mbah to join the APC, described Chief Uche Nnaji as a sleeping minister, who has no place in the government house.
Nnaji, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, was the APC guber candidate in 2023 and is believed to be nursing the same ambition.
Apart from Nwoye, the Labour Party guber candidate in the 2023 election, Barr Chijioke Edeoga also spoke at the Enugu East event, and went ahead to move a motion that Mbah is the zone’s sole candidate for the guber election in 2027.
The motion was unanimously carried.
A communique was also later issued after the meeting, where the stakeholders said “we want to state that we are blind to party affiliation.
“In the face of Nigeria’s fluid party politics, our political party is Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, a performing Governor, who has shown that he not only has what it takes to turn Enugu State around, but also to take it to the pinnacle of glory where our founding fathers dreamt of.”
While harping on zoning arrangement in the state, the Enugu East leaders further urged “our brothers and sisters from Enugu North and Enugu West Senatorial Districts to return the favour we accorded them in 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019, as no son or daughter of Enugu East Senatorial District was on the ballot for the governorship seat of Enugu State during those election cycles.
“This we did in deliberate deference to the subsisting zoning arrangement in Enugu State as established by our founding fathers.
“This arrangement guaranteed two terms in office for Enugu West Senatorial District through His Excellency, Barr. Sullivan Chime, from 2007 to 2015, and Enugu North Senatorial District through His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, from 2015 to 2023. Mbah’s case will not be different.”
2027: Mbah is our political party, Nnaji has no place – Enugu East stakeholders
