Prince Sam Ejiofor, former Political Adviser to former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani may have stirred the honet’s nest with his recent declaration that “Ebeano” their political structure will bounce back in 2011.

Barr. Obinna Obiegu a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial aspirant has declared Ebeano dead and would only end up being disgraced in 2011. “If they were not able to do anything in eight years I do not know where they are ‘bouncing back’ to. What is it they left there that they want to come and collect? Is it to take us back to the Stone Age?

Obiegue, who is from Amankpunato Achi, in the Oji-River local government area of Enugu State is gearing to wrestle power from the serving deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu for the Enugu West senatorial ticket.

Excerpts:
Why the senate?
In the past I have been trying to go to the federal House of Representatives and that was about ten years ago. Today if I have to vie for a position, I do not think I have to go for the position I wanted to occupy ten years ago. There is need to move forward and moving forward what came to my mind is the senate. Apart from that, the senate, by my own estimation is supposed to be zoned to my own town because the current senator for the zone is from Awgu-Aninri axis and by the end of his tenure he would have been there for eight years.

And if he has been there for eight years, after his current tenure it is expected that the position should be zoned to outside his own axis which is Awgu Aninri. Again, the first person who represented us is Ben Collins Ndu; he is from Ezzeagu; the then governor is from Udi. Now, Oji-River local government area happens to be the only area that has not gone to the Senate since the present democratic dispensation. So, number one I think I am qualified to go there; secondly I think it should be zoned to my place as of right; and the current man would have been there for eight years after his current tenure which means somebody from somewhere else should be allowed to occupy that position.

Ekweremadu’s performance
I have answered this question severally; when they are talking about performance, I said that in terms of what he has done in Abuja where he lives he has done well; that is, globally he has done well. But if you are talking of his performances at the local level, the Enugu West senatorial zone, I have not seen performance. In the past I said I had not been able to carry out a survey to find out what has been done and what was not done, but totally I do not think that I can see something I will call a meaningful achievement.

Ebeano
I have always been a member of PDP and I want to run on the platform of the party.
I belong to the new PDP in Enugu State and the new PDP is the Sullivan group. I think Ebeano is dead anyway. Few days ago when we had Enugu West convention at the old Government lodge I didn’t see the presence of anything called Ebeano there; I saw the presence of the new group. So I actually think that Ebeano is dead because I have not seen anybody who will make any impact from that.

Ejiofor and resistance
The way I see politics it is all about development and all that. I have tried to look at the eight years of Ebeano group, I cannot but tell you that I can see anything concrete that Ebeano did in eight years. Governor Sullivan Chime has been in power for two years and few months now; within this period we have seen remarkable development; politics is all about development; remarkable improvement of the society. So I try to rate the two groups in terms of what they have been able to achieve; and my philosophy in politics is all about development; if they were not able to do anything in eight years I do not know where they are bouncing back to.

What is it they left there that they want to come and collect? Is it to take us back to the Stone Age? Luckily, Sullivan has been able to uplift us from where they left us now. We are seeing rays of development all over the place, and then the people who put us into the Stone Age are now telling you that they are going to bounce back; bounce back to what?

To Stone Age? To blackout? So I do not see where they are going to bounce back to. By the time the election comes up, Ebeano people will see that they will be roundly defeated, and that will be the end of it. Right now they know they are not going to make any impact; it’s all about noise and press war.
Absence of Ebeano is a blessing to the people

The fact that Ebeano is not in power, Enugu people are gaining. You move around in Enugu , for instance you see the development, which is a gain. If Ebeano had continued the way they were doing, I am sure that Enugu would have been a backward society by now. There was no security in the state when they were there; nobody was coming to this state. Today, people can come to Enugu and feel relaxed because there is an improvement on security; there is an improvement on the road network, there is an improvement on the social infrastructure; so I do not see how a retrogressive regime can come back to make an impact or rather take us back to an era we all felt so bad about.

Dwindling popularity of Ebeano
If you say dwindle, that means there is something left; that there is something to hang on to. I am saying there is nothing to hang on to. The thing is ended. It is finished. But if they think that it has not finished let them come out, 2011 is around the corner. Let them present their candidate and we will present our own, and then we will see how it goes. But I am certain that the new PDP in Enugu state will sweep the polls.
Ekweremadu’s guber ambition

Ekweremadu is a Nigerian with all the rights bestowed on Nigerian citizens, the freedom of association and all the freedoms enshrined in the constitution.


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/politics/2009/aug/20
politics-20-08-2009-002.htm

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