Tony Okafor,Awka
The Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District, Dr Uche Ekwunife, has declared that she is supporting the presidential bid of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and not that of Peter Obi of the Labour Party(LP)
Ekwunife who representing Obi’s Anambra Central Senatorial District, said she had no grudges with Obi said, “I am contesting to represent the good people of Anambra Central under the People Democratic Party (PDP) and Iam supporting my party’s Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar while Obi is running the Presidential race under Labour Party, which I have no issue with.
Ekwunife’s clarification came following speculations that she was telling voters in her district to vote for her in PDP for senate and vote Peter Obi for president in LP.
Debunking the speculation, Ekwunife said “Obi is contesting to win as President and I am contesting to win as Senator also. But I don’t know why politcians are trying to use this to tarnished my long time relationship with him. I’m supporting Atiku.
“So I am appealing to you journalists, to always sensitized politicians on how to play politics of maturity without any raccour.
She warned politicians to stop incisive statements that would tarnish her long existing relationship with Obi after the general elections.
She stressed the importance of local government autonomy in the state and the country at large to attract development to the rural areas.
Ekwunife, who addressed members of Nigeria Union Journalists (NUJ), in Awka on Thursday where she stated the reason she wanted to return to the red chamber said that without local government autonomy, development at rural areas would be stunted.
She lamented that the third tier of government had been helpless because funds meant for them were diverted by state governments.
She said she had performed well in representing the senatorial district through the bills she sponsored, the projects she had executed and the jobs she helped her constituents secure in the six years she had spent in the senate and her eight years in the House of Representatives.
She, however, warned her opponents to stop castigating her, pleading that all contestants should be given a level playing ground.
“I am being “blackmailed” because I am a woman, but God knows that my hands are clean.
Speaking, the Anambra State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Dr Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, assured the Senator that journalists in the state would be fair to all and objective in their reportage during the polls.
