By CHARLES IWUOHA

The member representing Ikwo/Ezza South Federal Constituency in the House of representatives of Ebonyi State, Hon. Chinedu Ogah, has said that the South-East Zone will benefit if the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is voted to power come 2023.

The lawmaker stated that the Tinubu/Shettima (Muslim-Muslim ticket) was the right choice for the zone that came through a well thought out on the regions and candidates that have the capacity to win election across the country.

Ogah, who is also a House of Representatives candidate of APC for Ikwo/Ezza South in the 2023 election, spoke during the ongoing Media Parley organized by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) at the weekend.

He noted that It was only the Tinubu/Shettima ticket that can win election convincingly in the North and South West because of the antecedents of the two personalities who he said, have built up many people in the regions and other parts of the country.

He boasted that APC was the only political party that can win election in Ebonyi State as according to him all those with their PVCs are members of the party.

Ogah said “the greater number of those that have their voters card in the state are all APC members. They will vote APC across boards because 90 percent Ebonyi people are APC. If you see those that are complaining in the APC, they don’t have voters card. The candidates we have in APC both at the National and State levels are very credible.

“When you look at Ahmed Tinubu antecedents, you will see many people he has built and they cut across the country likewise Shettima. Compare these personalities with other candidates of various political parties, you will discover that Tinubu/Shettima ticket is the right choice especially for the Igbo because they will benefit a lot under the Tinubu administration as the President of the country. Igbo should connect to the centre, they should connect to national politics and shun ethnicity.

“Even in the two tenures of President Muhammadu Buhari, all his Vice Presidents were chooses from the Igbo but they turned it done. In 2015, he approached a very reputable Igbo man to be his VP and the person turned it down and that is why the North has alliance with the West and you cannot do a wall outside the fence. It is when you are inside the masquerade that you determine the dance of the masquerade. So, I am calling on the Igbo to follow the APC because it is the right party for them to follow so that we can get dividends of democracy for our people.

“Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the right person for the 2023 presidency, let us look at who can deliver democracy dividends for us. If dividends of democracy is coming, even if it is through a Muslim-Muslim ticket, everybody will be okay. I want to tell you, most of our Christians don't have open door policy.

“Yes, the truth of the matter is that politics is about the masses, it is about the number. People can complain about Muslim-Muslim ticket. If Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu who is from South West Muslim picks a Christian from the North and his running mate, can APC win the election? Let us be sincere because we are doing politics to win and not to lose. What we should be talking about is do this people have the interest of Nigerians at heart? They have interest in Nigeria because they want stability of power, they want Nigeria stability, they want to create job opportunities for the people”.

On the chances of his victory in 2023, Ogah said he was not against or afraid of other candidates running against him but that he was confident that the electorate will re-elect him as according to him, he has been representing them effectively since he was elected into the National Assembly in 2019.

He vowed to consolidate on the achievements he recorded if re-elected and assured that he will continue to speak and protect the interest of his constituents and Ebonyi people in general as a lawmaker.

“It is not a problem that I have other candidates that are contesting against me. It is all about presenting ourselves before the electorate because it is the duty of the electorate to make the choice of who they want based on our antecedents; what we have done and what we intend to do. It is the people that elected me as their representative under the platform of APC. If I have not performed, it is their duty to vote me out. So, my strategy is the masses.

“It is not for you to purchase a form and become a candidate of your party. But what are your plans for your people? So, I welcome every candidate contesting against me and I am not such a candidate that destroys another that are contesting my position. If I can see any of them, I will assist them financially for them to do campaign and present themselves before the people.

“Before I became a member of the House of Representatives, I have done things that made the people to elect me. As a member of House of Reps, I have continued to do those things that made the people to elect me and I will continue to do those things. If I am elected again, I do more of those things I have been doing.

"I will focus more on human infrastructure because if we have many people that have the capacity that we can call and ask them to assist the people that need help and they are able to do that. This is what we are looking at. So, we are not against anybody that is running against me but within you as a journalist, you should know that no other party can win election in Ebonyi State other than APC.

“There are so many areas I will explore if I am reelected. If I am privileged to be a member of the leadership of the National Assembly, I will fight for the state, there is no any Ebonyi man that is an Executive Secretary of any federal parastatal, there is no any Ebonyi man that is a DG and constitution of the country states that each of the state of the federation should have their own quota and I will fight for Ebonyi quota.

“There are lots of things I have done as a first timer that Ebonyi people today have assumed their

positions that were taken aware. As I speak to you now, Ebonyi people wouldn’t have been captured in Police Academy but I have done the fight and almost 15 of them are now in Kano at the Academy.

“I raised the alarm over the negligence of Ebonyi people in PTDF scholarship and I initiated a suit against it. Today, almost 150 Ebonyi people have been given the scholarship and you cannot do all these if you are not at the corridor of power.

“It is only in the National Assembly that you can stand and speak and you will be listened to. So, if by God’s grace with the mandate of the people that I succeeded being re-elected, there lots for us to do,” he stated.

Speaking, Chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel, Comrade Samson Nwafor, said the Media Parley was organized for candidates of various political parties in the state to showcase their manifestos to the masses on what they will do if elected in next year’s general election.

He said the parley was not limited to particular candidates or their parties, adding that as watchdogs of the society, it is the duty of journalists to set an agenda for the people and hold leaders accountable.

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