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As next month’s gubernatorial primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Ebonyi State approaches, Governor David Umahi has thrown his weight behind the governorship ambition of the embattled Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Francis Nwifuru, as his preferred successor come 2023.
This is coming on the heels of reported opposition by stakeholders of the party from Izzi, Ebonyi, and Abakaliki Local Government Areas of the state.
The Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in Diaspora led by Amb. Paschal Oluchukwu, had, on Friday, also kicked against the purported endorsement of the embattled speaker by a group known as Ezza Ezekuna youths and traditional rulers of the Izzi Clan.
Umahi gave the endorsement, on Saturday, at Okposi, in the Ohaozara Local Government Area of the state, during the burial ceremony of late Chief Dandy Omoke, a former Chairman of the council.
Umahi, while introducing Nwifuru at the occasion, described him as the next Governor of Ebonyi State.
Sunday PUNCH reports that Nwifuru represents Izzi/West State Constituency.
Nwifuru, who has served as speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly since 2015, is in his third tenure in the House.
He was first elected into the Assembly in 2011 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
He was subsequently re-elected under the same platform in 2015 and in 2019, before he defected to the All Progressives Congress in 2020, alongside Governor Umahi and 15 other House members.
Commissioner for Information, in the state, Uchenna Orji, confirmed the endorsement, on Saturday.
While reacting to an inquiry by a national daily, the commissioner said Nwifuru possessed the necessary requirements to succeed Umahi, come 2023.
He said, “Yes, the endorsement is true. Nwifuru is our candidate for the 2023 governorship election in Ebonyi State.”
In Ebonyi State, the APC stakeholders of the Izzi clan, comprising Ebonyi, Abakaliki, and Izzi local government areas, disagreed over who would succeed Dave Umahi in 2023. They expressed their opposition to the rumoured support of the governor for the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Francis Nwifuru.
