Odii Rejects Ebonyi Stakeholders’ Summit Communiqué, Questions Credibility

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Ebonyi State, Chief Dr Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, has rejected the communiqué purportedly issued after the Ebonyi State Leaders and Stakeholders’ Political Summit held on Tuesday, describing it as unsigned, politically imbalanced and unrepresentative of the people.

Odii, through his spokesperson, Chief Emma Igwe, alleged that the communiqué was designed to manufacture consensus and improve the public image of Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru’s administration.

In a statement on Tuesday, Igwe questioned the credibility of the document, arguing that its commendation of the governor and his People’s Charter of Needs contradicted the summit’s claim to be non-partisan.

He said the resolutions appeared to favour the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) administration without an independent assessment of its performance.

The PDP governorship candidate’s spokesperson also questioned whether the summit was convened to discuss Ebonyi State’s future or to provide political endorsement and public relations support for the state government.

Igwe further argued that the summit’s conclusions could not automatically be regarded as the collective position of Ebonyi people without evidence that competing political interests and dissenting views had been accommodated.

He recalled that different political parties and stakeholders had met on October 19 to express their respective positions on the political future of the state.

According to him, the positions expressed at that gathering could not be overridden or substituted by another summit whose resolutions allegedly favoured a particular political establishment.

“No group of political elites has an exclusive mandate to determine the political destiny of Ebonyi people,” he said.

On the reported governorship succession arrangement extending to 2047, Igwe maintained that zoning could promote equity and inclusion but should not be used to restrict the aspirations of qualified citizens or predetermine future elections.

He questioned the authority of the summit participants to allocate the governorship among the state’s senatorial zones for the next two decades, insisting that the electorate should determine the outcome through constitutionally recognised democratic processes.

The spokesperson also raised concerns over the absence of identifiable signatures of the chairman, secretary or other authorised officials on the communiqué.

He asked who authenticated the document, whether it was unanimously adopted and whether dissenting opinions were recorded before its publication.

Igwe said a document claiming to represent the interests of the state’s three senatorial zones and 13 local government areas should meet basic standards of transparency and accountability.

He consequently rejected the communiqué as an inadequate representation of the aspirations of Ebonyi people.

According to him, the state’s priorities should include accountable governance, measurable development, employment opportunities, functional infrastructure, quality healthcare and improved education rather than political endorsements and succession arrangements allegedly determined by a select group.

He said the 2027 governorship election should be determined by candidates’ competence, integrity and capacity, as well as the democratic choices of the electorate.

“Ebonyi State belongs to all its citizens, not the APC, not the incumbent administration and not a select group of political leaders,” the statement said.

Igwe concluded that an unsigned communiqué could not establish statewide consensus and that political endorsements could not replace good governance or supersede the will of the electorate.