The Enugu West Concerned Citizens Forum (EWCCF) in Enugu State has endorsed the senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu for the 2019 general elections.
The forum said its members would vote en masse for Ibekaku-Nwagwu for her dogmatism and antecedents as the former Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Justice Reforms.
The forum made this known in a six-point communiqué issued at the end of its meeting at the Nike Lake Resort, Enugu on Saturday.
Its Coordinator, Elder Ben Ezeamuha, who read the communiqué, identified the senate seat as the highest political elective position for the entire five council areas.
He said the Enugu West Senatorial District comprising Udi, Ezeagu, Aninri, Awgu and Oji River Local Government Areas deserved a change from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) represented by the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.
He said that indigenes of other four council areas of Oji River, Awgu, Ezeagu and currently Aninri had at various times occupied the exalted seat except Udi.
Ezeanuha said that Udi North should reject the paltry Seat of the House of Representative, which had not added any significant development to the zone.
He said that all Udi and Ezeagu sons and daughters should adopt this position and canvass for it.
In a related development, Mr Gabriel Onoh, son of the former Governor of old Anambra State, has said that the people of Ngwo were completely neglected from the PDP 16 years’ representation of Enugu West in the Senate.
“We have nothing to show that we have been supporting PDP for the past 19 years,” Onoh said at a meeting of leaders and stakeholders of Ngwo Iri in Udi Local Government Area of the state.
The meeting was held at Isi-Okpoto with leaders and representatives of the 10 villages that make up Ngwo clan namely Uboji, Ameke, Amachala, Amabor, Ukaka , Amankwo, Umuase, Etiti, Okwojo and Enugu Ngwo.
According to Onoh, you cannot do the same thing repeatedly for 16 years and expect the same result, as is the case in Enugu West.
He said their decision to shift the support base of the people of Ngwo to the APC candidate, Mrs Ibekaku-Nwagwu was informed by her track record.
In a similar development, the entire Umumba comprising Umumba Ndi-Uno and Umumba Ndi-Agu in Ezeagu council area and the Association of Igala Youths resident in Udi LGA and the 9th mile in particular also threw their weight behind the senatorial ambition of Ibekaku-Nwagwu.
Ibekaku-Nwagwu, in her response thanked all the groups that adopted her, especially the Enugu West Concerned Citizens Forum (EWCCF) forum, the Women Wing of the Enugu State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
She condemned the unruly attitude of some members of the National Assembly during the President’s Budget presentation and described such as `unbefitting’ of persons of presumably distinguished personalities.
She emphasized the need for the electorate to examine the character of persons they intend to elect into various positions, especially the National Assembly at the forthcoming 2019 General Election for responsive and quality representation.
She frowned at the alleged incessant destruction of her billboards by unidentified persons and called on her supporters to remain calm in the face of such provocation, while calling on the security agents to do the needful.
“All the groups should also give President Muhammadu Buhari the same support so that Enugu State would join the government at the centre because the South East has unanimously vowed to vote for Mr. President totally come 2019”, she said.