The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State has raised alarm that some people it termed “secessionists” have been making efforts to destabilise the second term bid of Governor Peter Mbah in the state.
The Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC in the state, Dr Ben Nwoye, made the allegation when he received the state’s chapter of Asiwaju Renewed Mandate South East (ARMSE) led by its leader, Chief Josef Onoh, in his office on Monday in Enugu.
Nwoye, however, clarified that the secessionists were not really people agitating for a separate country from Nigeria but groups within the state seeking for a new state out of Enugu State.
He noted that there are different groups of new State agitators in Enugu State who are itching for a new state to be created from the state and some in combination with other parts of other states from the South-East.
The chairman alleged that such agitators had been going round, making efforts to field some other candidates for the 2027 governorship election, sometimes from the same Senatorial district as Gov. Mbah and sometimes from outside the East Senatorial District which the rotation understanding in the state currently favours.
Nwoye, however, said that such efforts would be counter-productive given the excellent administration of Gov. Mbah in the state.
“Those in opposition to Gov. Peter Mbah want to destabilise the state. There are those who are secessionists even though they are not Biafra agitators, but elder statesmen recruiting others from Enugu East Senatorial Zone to run for governorship in 2027.
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“There are also external factors from outside Enugu State. They said that they want a new state, but they should not destabilise the state before leaving.
“We are in support of creation of an additional state but you cannot come and destabilise the one that we are already into. Don’t create stories to damage the one we have for now,” Nwoye pleaded.
Speaking, Onoh stated that such attempt to truncate Gov. Mbah’s re-election would erode the tripod rotational agreement entrenched by the founding fathers of Enugu State.
On the reason for the visit to the party office, he said that beyond the mandate to campaign for President Tinubu’s re-election, they also felt compelled to advocate for Gov. Mbah’s re-election for political stability in the state.
Onoh traced the trajectory of rotation of governorship positions in state from 1999, as instituted by the state founding fathers such as Sen. Jim Nwobodo, late Chief C.C Onoh, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, among others whom he said entrenched peaceful political agreement in the state and which had maintained interrupted two terms per Governors of the state, starting in 1999.
He said, “Though the Asiwaju Renewed Hope Mandate was designed to promote President Tinubu’s re-election, we sought for his permission to also use it for Gov. Mbah for Enugu State to remain great. If we support Gov. Mbah for the next four years, it will be doing the right thing.
“It is safer for Gov. Mbah to complete two terms so as not to destabilise the ongoing process of rotation that has stabilized the state.
“It is to curtail disaster in the state that made us come because such instability had affected other states in Nigeria. So, we came to pledge all the support to ensure that the understanding in the state is kept.”
