The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ebonyi chapter, on Thursday in Abakaliki inaugurated the Governorship Campaign Council (GCC) with a charge to drive the party to victory in the March 11, governorship election.
The campaign, comprising 100 members, was inaugurated by Chief Ifeanyichukwuma Odii, the PDP governorship candidate who also is the Chairman of the council.
Odii explained that the task before the members was to work to ensure a resounding victory for the party at all levels in the state.
The governorship candidate, in a post-inaugural speech, said that the council had been given a marching order to develop a blueprint embodying the calendar for the campaign rallies in the state within 24 hours.
He said that if elected the next governor, his administration would be committed to the provision of good governance anchored on credible leadership; wealth creation and restoring Ebonyi to economic greatness.
He said: “We are here for serious business, we are not joking until the day we are declared as the winners of all the elections in Ebonyi; this is why we have carefully selected you as members for this campaign council.
“Under our watch, Ebonyi will move tremendously from being among the poorest states in Nigeria to be one of the richest states in the country.
“I have said before and let me reiterate it, that I will use the natural resources Ebonyi is endowed with to develop the state and we are going to use our arable lands to generate wealth through agriculture.
“When I started my business, I started with zero balance sheet and I was able to grow it into a thriving business that now cuts across the entire African continent and the world and I am ready to deploy that business ingenuity to create wealth for Ebonyi people.”
Odii congratulated members of the council for making the list, noting that more members would still be added into the council in the course of time and reminded them that there was work to do.
On the rumoured delisting of all the candidates of the party in Ebonyi from the website of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Odii noted that it was the handiwork of the opposition who were afraid of the influence and popularity of the PDP in the state.
“The opposition, in their mischievous propaganda, was trying to confuse the people but the truth remains that the people love us and we remain the candidates for the elections,” Odii said.
Earlier, Mr Ifeanyi Nworie, state deputy chairman of the PDP, said that it was set to prove that it remained the most dominant and popular party in Ebonyi by replicating victory in the 2023 general elections like in the previous elections in the state.
According to him, the party won elections in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 before Gov Dave Umahi left the party with its mandate for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“I stand here to say believing in one voice that we are going to win again the March 11 governorship of the state and this time, we are going to elect a man that has the fear of God in him and who will not leave the party after voting him to power.
“We are believing that God who has sustained PDP in Ebonyi from 1999 till date will encourage each and everyone of us, including those to be inaugurated as members of the campaign council, to deliver on the mandate,” Nworie said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sen. Sam Egwu, representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District, is among the members of the council while Chief Austin Edeze, a governorship aspirant on the platform of PDP was appointed Director-General of GCC.
NAN also reports that all senatorial and House of Representatives candidates of the party were appointed into the council.