.. as party bigwigs boycott rally
Gov Bola Tinubu’s promise to Enugu at his Okpara Square rally yesterday is to transform business in the Coal City.
If Enugu voters collaborate and he wins, the APC candidate promised to transform the State into “an industrial hub where things are produced.”
“Enugu will become an industrial hub greater than it is now,” he said.
The former Lagos State Governor came to shop for votes in a rally at the Michael Okpara Square.
He apologised to Ebonyi Governor Dave Umahi for the poor recognition accorded him in the event brochure.
With an oblique reference to the issue of Igbo marginalisation, Tinubu said only those who invest reap the harvest.
He asked Southeasterners to wake up from their sleep and vote for right.
“It is only when you invest that you can harvest. It is only when you vote for me that you will share from the national cake,” he said.
Tinubu described his campaign organisation as a moving train that is prepared to win election.
Any attempt to stand before the moving train would be crushed, he said.
“You cannot block the way of success. It is only the ignorant that will stand on the way of victory.”
He commended Enugu APC members for their hardwork but warned that their efforts would be in vain if he did not win.
“We are not looking for 25 percent (in Enugu). We are working assiduously until Bola Ahmed Tinubu becomes the President of Nigeria,” he said.
Tinubu broadened his appeal to Nigerians to elect him to govern “the best country in the entire Africa.”
Nigeria needed to be rebuilt for the benefit of all so that citizens stop making efforts to escape.
“Those who are running to overseas are suffer, suffer. We have been there,” he said.
Lagos as a state is better than most countries in the Western world, he added.
APC governorship candidate, Uche Nnaji, promised victory for the party in the state after years of coming second best.
The party has never won a seat in any election before now. Aware of the odds, Nnaji promised to work hard to deliver 30 percent of Enugu votes in the presidential election.
Enugu APC big shots shunned rally.
Journalists at the event reported that most influential members of the party in Enugu State stayed away from the ceremony.
The roll call of absentees at the rally include:
- Former Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime
- Former Senate President Ken Nnamani,
- Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama,
- Former Gombe Military Governor Capt Joe Orji
- Former Senator Ayogu Eze
- DG Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu,
- Former State Assembly Speaker, Eugene Odoh, and many more.
APC State Chairman, Ugochukwu Agballa, threw a shade at those on AWOL accusing them of double-dealing.
He said the former leaders were architects of the challenges of Enugu APC in the past.
The problem, he said, was that many of them were “members of APC in the day and PDP in the night.”
Agballah explained that he took over the leadership of APC in Enugu state to force a change in government.
He thanked Governors Hope Uzodinma (Imo) and David Umahi (Ebonyi) for their assistance in organizing their programs in the state.
Tinubu’s promise to Enugu yesterday 11 January 2023.
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