2024 LG Election Aspirants Lament Extortion By APC, Dercy Neglect, Abandonment By Ebonyi Govt

By Alex Odeh

Aspirants who indicated interest to contest the local government election last year September that ushered in the incumbent Ebonyi State local government area chairmen and councillors are currently lamenting outright negligence and abandonment by the governor Nwifuru -led administration.

The embittered aspirants disclosed that their interest to aspire for the position as local government chairmen was borne out of the assurances by the leader of the party in the State, Governor Francis Nwifuru, that the emergence of candidates for the local government election in 2024 was to be determined by the popular decision of statekholders and party stalwarts at the grassroots.

It would be recalled that prior to last year July 20, 2024, local government election in Ebonyi State, Governor Francis assured that the imposition of candidates would be vehemently resisted.

The Governor promised that a level playing ground would be provided for all the aspirants. According to him, stakeholders and people at the grassroots will participate in choosing credible candidates that will represent them.

He said, “Our party is a large one, therefore will do everything possible to resist the imposition of candidates. As a Governor, I will not have much to say on who becomes the next local government chairman,” he said.

However, one of the aspirants who preferred anonymity told journalists in Abakaliki during an interaction that since the leadership of the party in the State had a preferred candidates for the said election, it was needless that they were deceived into the contest during which they spent whooping sums of money running into millions of naira to purchase interest and nomination forms from the party.

According to him, the party, All Progressive Congress (APC), and the governor were supposed to have considered the harsh economy and economic hardship facing the people,adding that majority of the aspirants borrowed money from the bank to bankroll their emergence for the election believing the assurance by the governor . He said they were currently finding it difficult to offset the debt, not to talk of affording three square meal daily.

The source warned that should the government planned such outings of not allowing internal party democracy in the forthcoming local government election slated to hold in August next year, it would be stepping further on toes of party supporters. It added it should desist from deceitful politics, especially in an election where prospective candidates had been selected and anointed to prevent unnecessary spendings.

The aspirant said, “I went and raised up to 25.5 million plus other miscellaneous expenses that is almost double to this because I want to get myself involved in the process of serving my people. I am making an appeal to the All Progressive Congress( APC) and Governor Francis Nwifuru to come to our aid. Then, on the part of the party, the party should also remember that we are the party.

“That party is not that house, not the structure. We are the party. And we expect them to understand that we are still relevant in the party. We are still relevant in the party and we are still willing to serve the party. But the situation we find ourselves in now is quite pitiable. Under this circumstance, we don’t even know where we are.

“Our families are suffering. Virtually, we are no longer doing anything to help our family. Some of our children, We’ve changed them from the schools they are attending to a very lower school just to carry our family along.

“So, it is very, very tough on us as party men that the chairman of the party and the leadership of the party should know that we believe them. We believe that. We believe our governor is a very trustworthy person.

“He is a man of integrity. We also believe that our party chairman is a man of integrity. We also believe in the integrity of the party. And that is why we have to align ourselves with the procedure of the party. We would not have gone to buy form if the party had said, don’t buy form We didn’t force ourselves on the party.

“We only followed the lay down procedures as announced by the party. The timetables are there. So, if they had said, nobody should go to buy from that the form is only meant for the incumbent chairmen. We would not have gone to any of the printing press to print our own forms. So, but they sold this form to us.

“And we all believe that we are going to the field. And at the end of the day, the party is always free. They came up with another decision that the incumbent should return back. We expected them also to return our money. It’s just normal. It’s just fair.

“But it’s very, very sad that from that very time till now, not even to talk to us, not even to address our fight. Have we not had patience enough? That’s just the appeal I’m making to the party to understand that we are all Ebonyians. We are still party men.

“We are still the same APC party people. And we are also very useful even in the forthcoming local government election and the other party activities that are forthcoming. We are still very ready. We are still very strong in our mind to, you know, follow the party. They should not abandon us like this”, the source said.