2027: Governors' endorsement of Tinubu won't make much impact - ADC House of Reps aspirant

By Madu Obi

African Democratic Congress, ADC, House of Representatives aspirant for Nnewi North, Nnewi South and Ekwusigo federal constituency of Anambra State for the 2027 general elections Ambassador Lotanna Ikebunwa, has described most governors' endorsement of President Bola Tinubu for the presidential election as a non issue, arguing that the governors were only interested in safeguarding their personal interests.

Speaking during the inauguration of ADC Good Governance Initiative programme for the federal constituency at Anaedo Hall, in Nnewi, Ikebunwa said Nigerians have vowed not to continue with the current hardship, which is why they are eager for a change.

"The endorsement of Tinubu by the governors is personal to them because the people are not with them. In spite of almost all the governors joining APC, their people have virtually abandoned them and identifying with ADC. This is because most Nigerians are clamouring for change", he said.

The former president of the Students Union Government, SUG, and speaker of Nnewi North local government legislature said that if given the opportunity to represent Nnewi North and South and Ekwusigo, the people of the area will know that a credible person is representing them in the green chamber.

He said : "I am sure of winning the election because I have the support of stakeholders, the traders, the youths, the women and the students in particular.

The person currently there has not done enough for our people to renew his mandate. We are all in this state and we see the empowerment programmes carried out by other lawmakers. The question is, why is our constituency lagging behind? Our people have decided that never again should they encourage such poor representation, which is why they asked me to come out.

From what is on ground, he does not have the capacity to win in 2027. The signs are already there because during the last Anambra election, he lost in his booth and in his ward. He has not done anything to deserve a second term."

According to him, everybody in the federal constituency is identifying with the ADC Good Governance Initiative because they are desirous to see and feel development of the federal constituency.

"We are lagging behind in everything. There is no clean water, no federal presence, no support for the business community of this industrial town of Nnewi and I promise to change the narrative.

Our people are not benefiting from any empowerment which is the commonest thing other people are getting. There's no housing scheme in this area and that is why the rents are so high.

I'm not the richest among the aspirants, but politics is not just sharing money to people. When I joined ADC, I discovered that the party doesn't have offices in the wards and I had to hire and furnish 10 offices for the party.

Since the offices became functional, work environment is now conducive and membership of ADC is increasing daily.

I have been going from house to house to inform the people of this initiative because they want good governance. The work of members of the governance initiative is to mobilize people to join ADC and I am happy they are succeeding", he stated.

During the Inauguration, the chairman of the occasion, Chief Ibeokonkwo Michael, said they would do everything possible to ensure that Ikebunwa would fly the ADC ticket in 2027 and subsequently move to Abuja to represent the people of the area.