A former Governor of Enugu State and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sullivan Chime, has endorsed Peter Mbah, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state ahead of the 11 March election.
Mr Chime served as the governor of the state between 2007 and 2015 under the platform of the PDP.
The former governor, who spoke from his residence in Enugu, said he decided to endorse Mr Mbah after interacting with governorship candidates of other political parties in the state. A video clip of the endorsement has been circulating on Social since Sunday.
The PDP candidate, Mr Mbah, also shared the clip on his verified Facebook page.
“I have had interactions not just with him (Mbah), but also Frank Nweke (APGA), Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party, and to me, looking at the field, Peter Mbah is the best Enugu can offer now,” he said.
“I have no reservations whatsoever in endorsing and supporting him. I believe knowing Peter Mbah too well, that he will not disappoint Enugu,” Mr Chime added.
The former governor said Mr Mbah has the passion to develop the state, saying the PDP candidate has expressed readiness to leave his business empire to become the governor of the state.
“If after four years, I call this kind of meeting again, stone me,” he said in a mixture of Igbo and English languages.
“If after four years, he was not able to convince Enugu people, through his works, to bring him back to office, he will be on his own.”
Background
The APC in Enugu State has been enmeshed in a leadership crisis lately, resulting in the splitting of the party into two factions.
Mr Chime belongs to a faction of the APC opposed to the Chairperson of the party in the state, Ugochukwu Agballah, and its governorship candidate in state, Uche Nnaji.
Other members of the APC faction include Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, former speaker of the State House of Assembly, Eugene Odo, and a former president of the Nigerian Senate, Ken Nnamani, who leads the faction.
The faction had accused Messrs Agballah and Nnaji of running the party like their “personal businesses.”
In January, the APC faction under the aegis of “Concerned Enugu State APC” besieged the APC national secretariat in Abuja demanding the payment of the convention allowances to the tune of $1.5 million by the party’s leadership in the state. The protesters accused Messrs Agballah and Nnaji, of embezzling the convention funds.
It was also reported that the faction, in January, boycotted the presidential campaign rally held in the state. The party chieftains were at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport Enugu to welcome the presidential candidate of the party, Bola Tinubu, now president-elect, but failed to show up at the campaign venue.
They would later explain that they stayed away from the rally because of Mr Agballah’s attitude towards them.