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From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Onyekachi Nwebonyi has taken a sweep against the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Ebonyi North senatorial zone for the 2027 general election, urging him to concentrate on his businesses and forget about going to the Senate.
In this interview, Nwebonyi dismissed any single tenure agreement for a senator from the zone as canvassed by Chief Chikodiri Ojimba, his APGA opponent in the 2027 contest l.
Your All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) opponent in the 2027 general election is asking you to withdraw from the Ebonyi senatorial race. What is your reaction to it?
Well, let me start by saying that I am not the first Senator from Ebonyi North senatorial zone who is asking for a second term. Senator Samuel Egwu did a second term in the zone. I, Senator Nwebonyi, by the special grace of God, will do a second term. And I want to let you know that I have no rival as far as Ebonyi North senatorial zone is concerned because going by the political permutation of Ebonyi North senatorial zone, I have not seen anybody who is capable of challenging me.
But is there any single agreement for a senator elected in the zone as alleged by your APGA opponent?
By next week, after I receive clearance from the governor, I will resume my project inspection and commissioning so that the doubting Thomases will come and see, even though they have seen my performance. You can see the point they are raising, that there is a written agreement of single tenure in Ebonyi North senatorial zone. Where is the written agreement? Let us see the agreement. He who asserts must prove, and I have mentioned to you that Samuel Egwu in the zone served for two terms and he is not even an Izzi man.
Why did you say that you have no challenger for the 2027 senatorial contest?
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Not because of my power, but because of my achievements. Because you can bear witness that I have set standard in terms of representation in Ebonyi North senatorial zone. This is the only senator in three years that has attracted over 400 kilometres of road, federal roads, as a principal officer that is traversing from Cross River through Ebonyi, to Benue, to Nassrawa, and to Abuja. I have not seen any senator that has attracted that from Ebonyi North senatorial zone. This is a senator in three years that has completed 10 kilometres of concrete road. No senator has even done half of that, and of that standard. This is a senator that has over 500 students in his payroll, under my scholarship scheme. We started even before I became a senator. No other senator from Ebonyi North zone has done that. This is a senator that has empowered over 10,000 farmers, many of them today are millionaires as a result of farming inputs, and other incentives I gave them. I redirected their minds towards agriculture. This is a senator that has been most visible in the national politics. Tell me there’s a senator from the South-East that has made federal presence more than me. The answer is no. Therefore, I have no rival.
How can you describe your APGA opponent in the senatorial race?
I want to advise that even in journalism, there are steps to promotion. As a journalist, you start as a reporter, you graduate to an editor, before you become an MD of a media house. How can somebody who has never been a ward councillor, has never been a House of Assembly member, simply because he’s selling chippings, and government is patronising him, he said he wants to be a senator. Senate is not for business moguls. Senate is for intellectuals, those who have made names in different fields of life. For example, I’m a lawyer by profession. I’m 20 years old in the profession. Before you knew me as a politician, you know me as Barrister Nwebonyi. And I made my mark. I made my millions in the private sector. So I’m not in politics to make money. Like the businessmen are thinking, politics is not an avenue of making money. So, they better face their business because when you come into it, you will spend more than what you get because I’m spending more than what I get as a senator. And they are witnesses to that.
Are you saying that you don’t have a contender at all in the race?
As far as I’m concerned, I have no rival in Ebony State. The governor has no rival. President Tinubu has no rival. We are convinced. The people of Ebony are convinced with the achievement of APC, from the federal government to the local government. Like the governor said today in the church. President Tinubu has remembered the people of South-East, and in particular the people of Ebonyi State in a very significant manner. Remember the road I mentioned, traversing from Calabar to Mbeke Ishieke, to Benue, to Nassrawa, and of course to Abuja. This is an exceptional love. You can also see what the President is doing, dualising Enugu, Abakaliki, to Ogoja. Who has remembered the people of Ebonyi State in this manner? So, I want to assure you that Ebony State is APC, and APC is Ebony State. No other party will win any seat in this coming election, because we have a leader in the position of His Excellency our dear governor.
There are insinuations that your clan, Izzi, is divided along kindred lines. Is that true?
Well, I want to assure you that the Izzi clan, as of today, is united, and we are supporting our governor, whom God has made our leader. The days of our division is over, when we used to do politics of Igbojima and Unwera. But today we have gotten a leader, in the person of His Excellency the Governor, the leader from Igbojima extraction, and from Unwera extraction. So, we are bonded together, and we are moving forward, for the betterment of the entire Izzi, not just the Izzi people, but for the entire Ebonyi State. And when you look at our style of leadership, you cannot see any iota of high-handedness, in the side of the governor, and also my own side. That is the typical Izzi man for you. We are humble, we are hardworking, and we are focused. And we want to warn, let nobody divide us, because what is happening today is caused by somebody from outside. And we know that very person well. But we want to send a message to that person, that the days of our division are over. And I also want to advise the kindred extremists, because we still have them in both families, in both Unwera and Igbojima. We still have those kindred extremists. So we want to let them know, that we have grown above such politics. People like us are looking at, not just national politics, but international politics. There’s nothing your kindred can do for you, we have crossed that level. So let’s cruise together. The sky is our limit.
