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From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
The 2027 governorship election in Ebonyi State will be another straight battle between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rival, like the 2023 general election.
During the last general election, the candidate of APC, Governor Francis Nwifuru, defeated his main challenger, Chief Ifeanyi Odii of the PDP.
In the full results, Nwifuru won about 199,000 votes and 58% of the votes cast during the poll, while Odii, the first runner-up, received over 80,000 votes and 23% of the vote. Professor Odo, the candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), came third with around 52,000, 15% of the vote. Each candidate won in his local government during the 2023 election. Nwifuru won his Izzi local government, Odii won Onicha local government and Odo won Ezza North.
However, in the forthcoming election, Odo has settled for the senatorial race in his Ebonyi Central zone under the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), while Nwifuru and Odii have secured APC and PDP governroship tickets, respectively, to slug it out again in 2027.
Nwifuru won the APC ticket on May 21, 2026, during the APC governorship primary conducted across the political wards in the state. He was elected unopposed through a direct primary.
Shortly after he was declared winner, a celebration party was held at the banquet hall, old government house, Abakaliki, the state capital, with the large hall filled to capacity.
The governor told the crowd that he was not contesting the 2027 governorship election with anyone.
“You see all these noises of different political parties contesting the elections in Ebonyi, when it is time to dance, the owner of the drum will dance it. But it is you people that will make me calm down, it is you people.
“I want to promise you, victory is assured. We are on course and it is only God that gives power and God has given us power, nobody can take it away from us. As you know me, I am very hard to convince and once I am convinced I go to any length to protect it.
“You see these our candidates, they have already secured. Their forms have already been presented before God, we presented the forms on the altar of God, in His house, and He blessed the forms and sanctioned that we should go on. What we are waiting for now is the day of the election. We are prepared and we are seriously prepared all round, we are not shaking, we are not contesting with anyone.
“You will see it, you will feel it, and it is not by noise-making. But I want to tell you, if your brother or sister is trying to cause more disaffection, tell them to calm down. When I leave, he will start. The worst thing that can happen to anyone who is very intelligent and who knows everything is fighting with a nonentity, that is the worst thing that can happen to you, because when you return, they will not know the level they elevated you to, because they are a nonentity, they do not know anything. So, I want all of you to be very confident that our party will defeat them. I have not even seen anybody that is contesting with us,” Nwifuru said.
The governor, during that event, also made statements, which PDP and political watchers saw as a plan to revoke the title of the PDP secretariat’s premises. He claimed that he has the documents of the land, including its certificate of occupancy (C of O), as the one that applied for the land, and challenged PDP to prove him otherwise.
“I want to tell you again, in that PDP secretariat, I want to tell you tonight, it was me that applied for the allocation of that land, I am the one that applied for the allocation of that land, and the allocation was given in somebody’s name and I hold the allocation paper and the C of O, and I bought the land beside the PDP secretariat from Fred Udeogu. I bought that land for N3 million each and I have the documents too.
“Our O/C Legal is here and he is the one that wrote the agreement. So, when people wake up to say we have a party secretariat, I say where? Where is the place? You do not know the place? Do you have any property there? You do not have any property! And, mind you, compensation, which is one of the requirements to acquire that property, has not been paid.
“If you ask the two families that own the land I bought there, they will tell you that I paid them N500,000 each, not for compensation, just to sign for me. So, they do not know the owner of the property.
“So, when somebody gets up to say this place belongs to him, belongs to whom? How? Do you know how that property was acquired? Do you know the owner? You have to ask those of us who have worked there how that property came to be, so that we can tell you the owner, and that is it,” he said.
Nwifuru’s statements on the PDP secretariat did not go down well with the party, which vowed that it would resist any attempt by the governor to revoke the C of O of the property. The party petitioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Inspector-General of Police, the Department of State Service (DSS), the National Security Adviser and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the alleged plot by the governor to revoke the C of O.
At a press conference in Abakaliki, the chairman of the party, Chukwuma Igwe, accused the governor of political intolerance, intimidation and harassment of its members, and vowed that the party would resist him. He said any unlawful attempt to interfere with, revoke, tamper with or politically target the PDP State Secretariat or any lawful structure belonging to the party would be firmly resisted through every available constitutional, democratic, political and lawful means.
He averred that it is deeply unfortunate that, at a time when Ebonyi people expect governance focused on economic revival, youth empowerment, infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture and employment generation, valuable state energy and public attention appear increasingly diverted towards political vendetta, intimidation and unnecessary confrontation against opposition forces.
“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ebonyi State Chapter, hereby formally draws the urgent attention of security agencies, democratic institutions, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), civil society organisations, development partners, members of the diplomatic community and the general public to what has now assumed a dangerous pattern of political intimidation, executive intolerance and calculated attempts to suppress opposition political activities in Ebonyi State ahead of the 2027 General Elections.
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“The PDP has observed with grave concern recent political developments and public remarks allegedly linked to the Ebonyi State Government regarding plans to revoke the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) covering the PDP State Secretariat in Abakaliki.
“If eventually carried out, such action would not only amount to a direct assault on constitutional democracy and multiparty political participation, but would also represent a reckless abuse of executive powers capable of endangering political stability and democratic order within the state.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the PDP Ebonyi State Chapter wishes to state unequivocally that the party shall not fold its arms or surrender democratic space to intimidation, harassment or executive recklessness.
“Any unlawful attempt to interfere with, revoke, tamper with or politically target the PDP State Secretariat or any lawful structure belonging to the party shall be firmly resisted through every available constitutional, democratic, political and lawful means.
“Those who believe state power grants them unrestricted authority to intimidate opposition voices must understand that democracy is neither sustained by fear nor preserved through oppression.
“Political parties are not the personal property of governments in power, and neither is Ebonyi State the private estate of any political office holder. It is deeply unfortunate that, at a time when Ebonyians expect governance focused on economic revival, youth empowerment, infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture and employment generation, valuable state energy and public attention appear increasingly diverted towards political vendetta, intimidation and unnecessary confrontation against opposition forces.
“The PDP further notes with concern the growing climate of fear allegedly being orchestrated against opposition members and dissenting voices across the state through intimidation, harassment and abuse of state influence.
“Let it be clearly stated that democracy thrives on plurality, tolerance and healthy political competition, not coercion, suppression and misuse of state institutions. The PDP remains a critical stakeholder in Nigeria’s democratic history and the political development of Ebonyi State from 1999 to 2021. Ironically, many principal actors within the present administration, including Governor Ogbonna Nwifuru himself, politically evolved and attained prominence under the democratic platform and political opportunities created by the PDP.
“It is therefore both unacceptable and politically dangerous for any government that emerged from democratic structures to now appear uncomfortable with the very opposition culture democracy guarantees,” Igwe stated.
PDP has not been accessing the party secretariat since Nwifuru made the open declaration that he was in possession of the C of O of the secretariat. The party has been operating from a hotel owned by the House of Representatives candidate of the party for Afikpo/Edda federal constituency for the 2027 general election, Eni Uduma Chima.
But the governorship candidate of the party, Chief Odii, said the era of darkness and the era of running the state like a family business was over. Odii made the declaration shortly after being declared candidate of the party.
Addressing his supporters at the collation centre after he was declared candidate of the PDP for the 2027 governorship election, Odii enjoined the party members and supporters to enthrone what he called good governance in the state. He accused the present administration in the state of running a personal family business government, which he described as unacceptable.
Odii said: “Ebonyi can never be consumed, Ebonyi can never be conquered. Ebonyi can never become a personal family business, and we are here for the rescue of our own dear state. I do not need anyone to celebrate me, I do not need anyone to clap hands or sing praises for me. What we are looking for is the task ahead of us, and that task is how to recover Ebonyi for better development.
“It is time for us to bring about good governance, the governance that will benefit born and unborn children, the governance that will bring good governance to the men and women.
“It is about the governance that will bring good welfare to citizens, to the civil servants, to the teachers. It is about the good governance that will bring about a good economy to Ebonyi State, and that is why I have made myself available to it under the platform of PDP.
“Quote me on record, Ebonyi will never go into darkness again. I am always good at challenging the status quo when the time comes. God blesses people because of their people. I am blessed because of the land of Ebonyi. Let the God of the land stand and fight for the liberation of Ebonyi State. I am not scared about their gathering, I am not scared about what the future brings. What I look forward to is the happiness of Ebonyi State, and I believe that happiness is now, there is no other time.”
The political tempo in the state has changed ahead of the 2027 general election since Nwifuru and Odii secured the APC and PDP tickets, with the Ebonyi governor talking tough. The governor, during an endorsement rally for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and himself at the Abakaliki Township Stadium last two weeks, which was attended by the National Chairman of APC, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, Anambra State Governor Professor Charles Soludo, his Imo State counterpart and other South East leaders, made a statement.
Nwifuru, while addressing the mammoth crowd, made a statement against Odii and the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike. “Ebonyi has no other presidential candidate other than President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and we will return him in the presidential election.
“We are standing here today to tell the whole world, especially those who have used Mr President’s name to orchestrate division and confusion in this great state, to know that we have only one party, and that is APC. This statement came out on the ground that some people are going round saying that they have discussed with Mr President and Mr President has given Ebonyi to PDP, and they are saying that Chief Nyesom Wike is their leader, and they are saying that Wike said the President has given Ebonyi to him.
“Ebonyi is not for sale. We are only holding ourselves because the people are with us. Nobody should push us because we have all it takes to consume whoever is trying us, we have all it takes to destroy whoever is trying us,” he stated.
The APC National Chairman, Yilwatda, who reacted to Nwifuru’s statement during the rally, said PDP would not get any position in the state in next year’s general election. “Nobody has conceded Ebonyi to PDP. Therefore, there is no vacancy in Ebonyi State. Ebonyi PDP has no place, and there is no vacancy at all in the government house in Ebonyi, come 2027,” the APC National Chairman declared.
